


Through our Bodies (Heartbeats 2)

by rosefumee



Series: Heartbeat [2]
Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Blood, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Boys' Love, Brotherly Love, Dark, Death, Doctor/Patient, Drama, Drama & Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotions, F/M, Falling In Love, Family, Five Stages of Grief, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gay Male Character, Gay Sex, Grief/Mourning, Hospitals, Kissing, Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Nen (Hunter X Hunter), Post-Chairman Election Arc, Post-Dark Continent Arc, Psychological Drama, Psychological Trauma, Semi-Public Sex, Sex, Sexual Tension, True Love, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Unresolved Tension, Workplace Relationship, Yorkshin City | Yorknew City (Hunter X Hunter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2020-09-27 13:50:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20408809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosefumee/pseuds/rosefumee
Summary: This is the sequel to my other fanfic Heartbeats.welcome back :)





	1. Moonlight river

The damp and the heat made beads of sweat on Leorio’s forehead. Strangely he was accustomed to hot summer temperatures, but never like this. He has been born and raised by the ocean in a small town where summer dominated the senses, but it was always windy, and dry. Even after weeks of living in the desert of Madgork, and where the heat was almost cruel at the time of the zenith, he did not suffocate like this. The forest was dense. Sometimes, giant leaves snapped in his face. He tried as hard as he could to follow the blond in front of him, who made his way easily through the intense surrounding vegetation.

They had abandoned their large birds, a common means of transport in the Lukso region, behind thewhen the road was possible only on foot. Which way to go? Leorio always wondered, feeling slightly claustrophobic in this suffocating heat and this evergreen foliage. How Kurapika recognized the way to follow impressed the tall man. He was out of breath but he would not complain. That took him some efforts, but he knew how important was this moment for Kurapika, and he wouldn’t waste it by making any negative comments. He also didn’t want Kurapika to change his mind about his presence here, which was still very surprising knowing how the blond preferred to do that kind of thing by himself. So Leorio shut up and walked as fast as he could, holding two large bags in his hands, which made a glass noise at each and every one of his steps. Kurapika was holding the other two bags almost gracefully. Leorio tried his best to move quickly, while taking care of the glass jars, not to smash them together. On his back, he had a big extra bag, carrying some food, a tent and sleeping bags, and other camping stuffs.

Kurapika suddenly stopped.

“Are we there yet?” Asked Leorio, relieved.

“Not quite,” replied the other, closing his eyes.

“Are you tired? Do you want to drink some water? I brought-”

“Don’t talk.”

Leorio went silent and he understood that Kurapika was trying to locate himself by sound. Around them, Leorio could only hear the songs of the birds that he never heard before, and the sound of the wind in the foliage too green to appear real. Kurapika suddenly raised his head.

“This way.”

Leorio breathed once to give himself some strength and followed him. The branches only became denser and denser, and moving forward while maintaining balance became an interesting challenge. Finally, after a while walking the non-existent paths, Leorio heard the sound of a river. Then, he saw it. A beautiful, bright blue river, flowing softly.

Kurapika stopped at the edge of it. Leorio came to his side and looked around.

“Is this the river you told me about?”

“Indeed.”

The sun appeared for the first time outside the branches, and the surface of the turquoise water was dancing with sparkles. It was such a delighting view and calming place, but Leorio had a chill when he remembered the demand Kurapika asked him in his letter. He wanted to die here, with his family. That was his plan. Leorio would have been here, alone, burying his best friend, and-

“Are you listening, Leorio?”

“Sorry, what?”

Kurapika was looking at him, frowning. Leorio shook his head. Kurapika was still here, and alive, and he still couldn’t believe it.

“I said I want to see my village first. We can leave the bags here.”

“Is that safe?”

“Nobody knows this place except me now.”

Leorio nodded, surprised by the air of nonchalance Kurapika had on his face, but he knew him too well to know that it was only to disguise his true feelings about all this. He followed Kurapika who was already walking through the forest again. After a while, they arrived to a beautiful clearing. Nature had taken over its rights over the years, but Leorio could guess little houses here and there. Kurapika walked more slowly, but confidently, towards one of the more distant houses. He stopped in front of the garden, and observed a huge grove of wild roses.

“My mom loved those flowers. She used to garden them everyday. It’s strange, but I feel I’ve been here lately.”

“You came back last year, didn’t you?”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“Maybe you dreamed of it?”

“Maybe.”

He shrugged. 

“So this was your house?” Asked Leorio, entering the pretty home, which had no door anymore.

“Yes,” replied Kurapika, following him inside. “This was our main room. We cooked, studied, worked in this place. Here was my parents' room, and there was mine. But everything is destroyed now. You have to imagine.”

“I love it.” 

“It’s nothing like a house now, though.” 

“Still beautiful.” 

“If you say so.” 

Kurapika shrugged and walked through the rubble without saying anything. The birds were still singing outside, making a contrast with the chaotic place. Leorio tried to imagine his friend’s childhood right here. Discussions with his parents at the table, Kurapika who studied and read, dreaming of becoming a Hunter. It all seemed so real and yet so far away.

Finally, they came out of the house and Kurapika sat on a piece of wall that had fallen long ago.

“Do you want to eat something? It’s midday. ” 

“Not hungry.” 

“Kurapika, we talked about this.” 

“I’m fine.” 

Leorio rolled his eyes, but said nothing. He took an apple out of his backpack and started to eat it. Kurapika walked away and wandered between the broken buildings. Leorio finished his apple, and stood up, looking for Kurapika who disappeared. He finally found him in the ruins of a larger house, with broken round wooden tables.

“What is this place?” 

“School. That was my desk, right here.” 

“Front row, as I imagined you to be.” 

Kurapika said nothing and looked at the wall. He put a hand on it, carefully.

“There were so many books here. I don’t know where they are now.” 

“Someone must have taken them.” 

“Yes.” 

“It looks like you were born in another century and that we travelled in time.” 

“And it feels like that too,” he replied softly. 

Leorio looked at him, feeling sorry. Kurapika shook his head without looking at Leorio.

“Let’s go back to the river. It’s time.” 

*

They took the bags and pitched the tent a little further into the forest. Once the tent was set up, Kurapika went back to the river and analyzed the surrounding soil.He seemed to find a perfect place (if such a place existed for this kind of thing). Under a large tree, the soil was more porous and elevated, and the river flowed nearby, without threatening the area with potential flooding. Kurapika took a shovel from the bag, and began to dig. Leorio came to join him, but Kurapika looked at him.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“I can help.” 

“No.” 

“Are you alright?” 

“Leave me alone.” 

“Sure,”Leorio said, understanding. “I’ll be by the tent if you need anything.” 

Kurapika obviously did not answer back and continued to dig for a long time even when his hands were sore. The sun was about to disappear when he finished. He knelt, breathless. He sat down very close to the river which danced to infinity and opened one by one the bags and took out the jars. Carefully, he took every glass jar and laid them on the floor. The sun was about to set very soon, and the orange light made the red pupils shine with an even brighter fire. In front of his eyes, Kurapika laid his palms on his thighs. He closed his eyes and tried to remember how to do it. What could he say? Did he have to recite a prayer? He knew none. 

The only words that came to his mind were the words of a sweet children’s song that his mother sang to him every night before sleeping. Without realizing, he started humming it, slowly.

C_lose your eyes now / My sweet love, do you know / The night is made to dream / And we will dream of tomorrow…_

He pulled out of the bag a white blanket and dropped it at the bottom of the hole. He opened the jars one by one and emptied them of their liquid, taking care of the eyes. He set them down on the blanket. After a while, the eyes, side by side, seemed to look at him all at the same time and Kurapika supported their gaze. It was the very last time he could see them. They had come home, finally. They could be reunited. That was the only reason of all the decisions he made in the past twelve years.

He took the corners of the blanket and put them on the eyes, to protect them. He stood up, took the shovel, and put a first lump of earth on them. Then, a second. On the third, his heart beat faster, and he felt his eyes misted over. But he went on. His hands were trembling, but he went on. The sound of the earth falling on the organs will remain forever engraved in his body. He went on, until the ground was perfectly equal again. Then, he fell on his knees.

He was supposed to feel relieved now.

It was supposed to be the end. 

This was the end, right?

He never felt so empty.

*

Leorio prepared their sleeping bags and tried to make their bed comfortable, but obviously this kind of arrangement was not his cup of tea. He looked at the time on his phone. It was late, and Kurapika had not yet returned. Leorio didn’t want to disturb the ceremony, something he knew was essential in Kurapika's process to find peace, to grieve. 

Around 5 o'clock in the morning, when Leorio had just dozed off, he heard footsteps, and then the door of the tent opened. A smell of dirt and antiseptic liquid tickled his nostrils and he felt Kurapika’s body drooping on the sleeping bag next to him. He had turned his back on him, curled up on himself, perfectly silent, without any movement.

“Kurapika?”

Leorio turned very slowly towards him and moved nearer.

“I’m going to give you a hug now, okay?”

“No. I can’t. I-”

Leorio ignored Kurapika and wrapped his arm around him and squeezed him gently. His body looked even smaller than usual. He felt Kurapika become as tense as possible, and he did not move, did not speak. Leorio was accustomed to this.

“I’m here for you. Just so you know.”

“I really don’t need you to do that,” replied Kurapika.

“I don’t care what you say. What you just lived is hard.”

Kurapika curled a little more on himself. His arms crossed, tight on his chest, but he kept his eyes open. The canvas of the blue tent shone with the moonlight, between the shadows of the trees. Hard? Strangely, he felt nothing. He didn’t feel anything. 

As if the arms around him were strangers.  As if the life he had just lived was a funny dream, a memory, the life of someone else.  He no longer had any desire.

*

Some hours later, Kurapika had not slept at all, and Leorio breathed loudly, still holding him against his body. He slowly freed himself not to wake him up, and came out of the tent. The bright morning light pricked his eyes, and he rubbed them. The lack of sleep weighed heavily on his body but he was used to it. He walked towards the river, and picked wildflowers here and there before returning to the tomb. He put the flowers on the ground and sat down. 

Then he heard footsteps behind him, and Leorio came to sit nearby.  They remained in silence for a long time, letting the sun waking up, hotter than ever.

“We should go for a swim, didn’t you tell me that was your favorite place?”Asked Leorio.

“I don’t know.” 

“C’mon. You need to fresh yourself up.” 

“You mean I stink?” 

“Your mind, Kurapika. I mean your mind need to fresh itself up.” 

“My mind is okay.” 

“Don’t start that again.” 

Kurapika rolled his eyes, but took off his clothes keeping his underwear and followed Leorio into the waters. The temperature of the water was colder, but somewhat invigorated his body. His mind remained blurred however, like his feelings couldn’t penetrate it. He couldn’t sense anything and very quickly came out of the river, without looking back. 

His face was closed and he got dressed without saying anything. Then, he disappeared towards the tent, leaving Leorio alone.

Leorio sighed, and came out of the water. He sat near the tomb, biting his lower lips. He looked at the wild flowers.

“Hey,”he said. “Hi, huh, I’m Leorio.” 

He cleared his throat, didn’t know if that was ridiculous or not. But who could judge him in the middle of the jungle?

“I wish we didn’t have to do this and that you were all still alive. Would have been great, huh, meeting all of you and-” 

Leorio hesitated.

“I guess what I want to say is I need your help, guys. Please take care of him, from wherever you are right now. I will do my best from here, I can promise you that. I just want him to be happy and-” 

Leorio stopped, trying to find the right words.

“I love him. I really do. I just wanted to tell you that he has great friends, but he-” 

“What are you doing?” 

“Nothing!” 

Leorio stood up, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

“Just having a chat with your family, that’s all.” 

Kurapika looked at him, his face as neutral as possible.

“I packed up our things. We can leave.” 

“What? Already?” 

“Yes.” 

“You don’t want to stay longer?” 

“I’ve seen enough.” 

“Kurapika, you can take your time for this.” 

“Why? It’s over, Leorio.”

“But you have been waiting for this moment all your life! I mean- all the time I’ve known you.”

“Exactly.”

Leorio looked at him for a moment, but Kurapika’s face was not open to discussion. Leorio walked towards him, and put a hand on his shoulder.

“We can come back anytime you want, okay?” 

“No. I need to get out of here.” Kurapika said, pushing away Leorio’s hand with his. 

“I’ll get you home, then.”

Leorio didn’t know what he meant by home, but he hoped Kurapika would consider his apartment like it. 


	2. Lonely Christmas tree

Kurapika kept silent the whole trip back to Yorknew and his face was closed, his eyes completely empty as he observed the endless landscapes outside the window, not even touching his dinner tray. Back in town, the winter was vigorous, especially after spending days in a wet and warm jungle. They shuddered while waiting for the taxi, then, arriving at the apartment, Kurapika did not even take off his coat and went to the guest room taking his bag with him. He closed the door behind him.

Leorio sighed and went to light the fire in the fireplace and then thought that there was nothing better than a good, heartwarming vegetable soup in those moments. Well, that’s what her grandmother always told him… He went to the kitchen to try to reproduce this famous recipe back in Selonia (his hometown), but he realized that the fridge was completely empty, except for an old piece of stale cheese, and some indefinable vegetables and a very fishy old slice of pizza.

He went quietly to knock on Kurapika’s door, which made a barely audible noise. Leorio opened the door, to see the other lying over the covers in the darkness.

“Hey, I’m going to buy some food. Do you need anything?”

“No.”

“'kay. I’ll be right back.”

Kurapika didn’t answer, and Leorio closed the door. He took his coat and came out in the harrowing winter. The wind whipped his face, and he walked to the grocery store not far from there. What did Kurapika prefer? Fruits and vegetables. Fresh food. He was going to fill his wagon with everything. When he arrived at the checkout, Leorio asked for delivery, because he realized that he had made a grocery store for six people, while Kurapika was barely eating in a normal context, whereas he would probably eat even less now.  


He returned home and the delivery arrived not long after. He unpacked the bags, filled the fridge and cabinets, and then started cooking with some music in the background. Hunter’s exam time was way behind him, and he had learned to cook ever since. When he was a student, too poor to eat at the restaurant, he had to learn, and he had become quite gifted.  


He left the soup simmered and went to sit in the living room to turn on the television without purpose. Some funny tv shows passed and finally, the smell of broth filled the apartment and announced that dinner was ready. Leorio stood up, and prepared a tray for Kurapika, with a bowl, a piece of baguette, and a piece of cheese. He slowly entered the room, where the blond had not moved an inch. He was sleeping on his right side, towards the wall. Leorio carefully placed the tray on the bedside table and sat on the bed delicately. He put a hand on Kurapika’s shoulder, who woke up with a jolt.  


“It’s just me. Dinner time.”

“I’ll pass.”

“You need to eat, Kurapika. I made my grandma’s best soup.”

“Not hungry.”

“You eat half of it and then you can go back to sleep, alright?”

Kurapika mumbled and sat against his will. His hair fell on his eyes and he did not bother to remove them. He took the tray and put it on his legs.

“You can leave it on the table when you’re done.”

“You really don’t have to do this, Leorio. I’m not sick anymore and you’re not my doctor.”

“Well, I’m your boyfriend and that’s what boyfriends do.”

“Because you’re very experimented in that subject?”

“Shut up and eat, Kurapika.”

Kurapika lowered his head and ate slowly. Leorio went out of the bedroom a little relieved and sat on the couch. The Christmas tree they had decorated together seemed to look at him, making fun of him. Leorio did not have the strength to undo it yet. Stupidly, Leorio felt it was the symbol of his optimism. Anyway, if Kurapika still had the strength to annoy him, it was because he was not in such bad shape, was he?

Leorio was wrong.

The days passed and the state of Kurapika deteriorated. His cold, cynical mood became worse than ever, and he only went out of bed to go to the bathroom and barely touched the trays of food that Leorio brought him. The day Leorio was going to get back to work at the hospital, he came into the room and sat down on the bed. Kurapika did not even flinch.

“You need to get out of the bed.”

“Go away.”

“Your body needs to exercise, Kurapika. Do you want to walk to the hospital with me? You could see Sue and-”

“I don’t.”

Leorio sighed. It was a waste of effort.

“Don’t forget to eat, okay? I left you a tuna sandwich in the fridge.”

There was no need to wait for an answer.

Leorio, feeling sorry, walked to the hospital. Upon arriving, Eleonora greeted him warmly, and then on her way to her office, Sue waited for him and took him in her arms.

“I’m so happy to have you back!” She said replacing her huge round glasses.

“Happy to be back too,” Leorio said. “How’re things?”

“We have three surgeries today, and we will be in the emergency room tonight.”

“Good. I’m making myself a coffee, you want one?”

“No thanks, I can’t focus when I drink coffee. How are you? And how is Kurapika? Is he perfectly healed from last time?”

“Well, he was, but now-”

  
Leorio hesitated for a second, but he really needed to talk to another doctor about Kurapika’s state and have an opinion. He told -almost- everything to Sue.

“Well,” she said, “it seems to me he is depressed. If he buried his entire family last week, that’s just a normal emotional reaction.”

“I know. It’s a process. I just want to help him, but as always he doesn’t want me to, and I feel useless.”

“He is not ready, Leorio. You can only be there for him when he will.”

“You’re right. I just- yeah.”

“At least, his life is not at stake anymore.”

“If he would eat, then I would agree.”

  
Sue looked at him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Healing takes time. You need to be patient about it. I’m sure everything will be alright.”

They went to the doctor’s lounge sitting in their usual place.

“Thanks, Sue. You know what they say. Can’t be the doctor of your loved ones.”

“That’s good because you’re not his doctor, but his boyfriend. And I’m very jealous of your romantic story.”

“Our story is not romantic at all.”

“Are you kidding me? Two people who hated each other and finally fell in love? That’s the dream.”

“We were friends between the hate and the love parts. It was much more complicated.”

“Even better.”

Leorio laughed.

“I just don’t want to jinx it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about us too much, like… it’s all too beautiful to be true. I don’t want it to disappear.”

“It won’t. You know each other so well. You’ve been part of each other lives for so long.”

“Yeah, but that’s the scariest.”

“It’s normal to be scared when you love someone. It only means you’re smart enough to know it’s precious.”

He sighed and nodded.

“Let’s get ready, Leo,” she said with a friendly smile. “I’ll meet you in the surgery room.”

* 

  
When Leorio returned to the apartment it was very late and it was completely silent at the apartment.He could have lived alone like before and it would have been the same.He opened the fridge for a beer and saw the tuna sandwich on the shelf still in perfect condition.Of course.  
  
Forgetting the beer, he took a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water, then he went to open the door of the room where Kurapika was curled up, like a fetus, at the bottom of the bed.Without thinking, Leorio went to bed next to him after putting the glass on the bedside table.It had been days since they had even touched each other.Kurapika moved a little, and Leorio wrapped him with an arm and squeezed him gently.He felt Kurapika’s body stiffen.

“I know you feel like shit right now and that you want to be left alone, but you need to know that I’m still here. I’m here, okay?”

“Mm,” Kurapika said with a weak and low voice.

They remained in silence for a while. Then, Kurapika curled up even more on himself.

“Can you leave now?”

“Okay. I left you a glass of water in case you’re thirsty.”

Leorio stood up, keeping his emotions aside. It was easy to do, with his years of experience as a doctor, but with Kurapika, this kind of exercise was difficult. He instinctively went to the Christmas tree that suddenly looked ridiculous like that, in the darkness. Leorio leaned and lit it, and straightened up to observe it for a moment. How could something become so magical with only a few white and red lights? If only he knew how to turn on Kurapika’s light like that, to see him smile and laugh again…

He backed away and dropped on the couch and turned on the TV. A show was playing but he didn’t really notice it. He felt overwhelmed. Everything happened so quickly. Kurapika and he were together. Then, Kurapika had almost died, and thanks to something extraordinary, Qitsu, as Senritsu called it, Leorio had succeeded in saving Kurapika from his own emotions and conditions that was killing him. They had returned here, to the apartment, and everything seemed fine. Leorio had never been happier in his life. Then they went there, to Lukso, and Kurapika seemed to have left something there. A piece of his soul. 

He was not to interfere, he knew it. Everyone had their own rhythm for everything. And if he had learned one thing, it was that this rule applied to Kurapika for everything he did. We couldn't force him to do anything. Ever.

While he was thinking, he did not realize that he eventually fell asleep on the couch. In the morning, he heard the door of Kurapika’s room open. The blond came out, his golden hair undone, wearing a sweatshirt. His dark eyes were bluish.

“Hey,” said Leorio standing up a little, yawning.

Kurapika nodded and sat on the couch, taking care to be as far away from Leorio as possible. He watched television, which now aired a cartoon program.

“What’s this?”

“I don’t know, it’s for kids.”

“Ah.”

Kurapika settled down and listened to the show with concentration. Leorio, still feeling tired, also watched it.

“We were operating on a little girl yesterday. She was barely three years old.”

“Why?”

“Malformation of the heart.”

  
Kurapika nodded.

“She’s been on a list for a long time to get a new one, but her blood type is rare.”

“It’s unfair.”

“I will never understand why a child can be sick. Childhood is supposed to be sweet, almost sacred. Not in a hospital room.”

Kurapika nodded again.

“Do you want to change the TV program?”

“No. In any case, I have to go back. I’m going to check that everything went well, said Leorio, getting up and stretching.”

“Okay.”

He went to the kitchen to make coffee, then he put it in a cup to take away. He went into the lobby to put on his coat, his scarf, and his boots.

“Kurapika?”

“Mm?”

“Eat something today.”

Leorio came out without waiting for an answer from the other.

*

It seemed that Kurapika had now taken up residence on the sofa in the living room, and spent his time watching the tv shows, all more tasteless than the others.When friends came to visit them, Kurapika would get up, and lock himself in the room and only come out when he was alone again.He did not talk to Leorio but to ask him how his day at the hospital went, but without any real conviction.His eyes were glassy, he was losing weight, but he was still stubborn and impossible to speak.  
  
One night, Leorio came back late at night because he had gone for a beer with some colleagues.Finally, one beer led to several, and Leorio staggered out of the pub to his apartment.He opened the door, losing his balance, the alcohol making everything dance before his eyes.  
  
On entering, he still saw Kurapika crushed on the sofa, without having moved since the morning.He felt a wave of strange anger, and his state of intoxication seemed to only encourage this emotion. He went to stand in front of the screen, blocking the view at Kurapika, who frowned. 

“Wouldn’t like you to do something else?”

“Like what?”

“Train maybe? Your Nen is not in shape at all.”

“I don’t care.”

“Why?”

Kurapika shrugged and moved his head a little bit to see the TV better, ignoring Leorio.

“I don’t need it anymore.”

“You’re a Hunter, Kurapika.”

Kurapika mumbled something imperceptible.

“What was that?”

“I said: Am I?”

“What? Yes! And an excellent one!”

Kurapika scoffed.

“That’s not important anymore. Can you please move away now?”

“I won’t let you get away with this. Talk to me,” said Leorio loudly, sitting by his side.

Kurapika sighed, annoyed, moving far away from him.

“You smell like beers.”

“And you smell like someone who didn’t shower for days,” lied Leorio (because no matter what Kurapika did, he always smelled good, a mix of forest and mint and- and it all annoyed Leorio, especially right now.)

Kurapika bites his lower lip.

“Did you forget why I wanted to become a hunter?” Kurapika said, dryly.

“Did _you_ forget why?”

He looked at Leorio with a serious face.

“To revenge my family.”

“That is such bullshit!”

“Excuse me?”

“You wanted to become a Hunter far before that! With your friend. You found that book. You wanted to travel. To discover the world.”

Kurapika stayed silent for a second.

“I’ve seen enough.”

“You’ve only seen the bad. Have you ever seen the good parts? Don’t you know there are other types of Hunters?”

“I don’t care, Leorio.”

“Ah, really?”

Kurapika shrugged.

“Fuck it, Kurapika! I won’t let you do this!”

“Can’t you leave me alone?”

“No, I can’t! Said Leorio. I’ve left you alone for weeks now, and I shut up, but now, this is enough! Wasting your talent, your intelligence, your strength!”

Kurapika suddenly stood up with an angry sigh. Leorio was taken by surprise.

“I am so exhausted of hearing this! I heard this from all the people I worked with who wanted something from me! Especially when I didn’t want to give them. Wasting my talent, ugh! What talent? And why do people care? Can’t you let me live my life as I want to? Can I do nothing if I want to? Why is it always confronting for you? When I worked too hard you hated it, and when I do nothing, you hate it too!

Leorio opened his eyes wide, he stood up too and exhaled loudly.

“How can you even compare me to these disgusting people? And when? When did I not let you do what you wanted? I’ve always accepted you exactly as you are since we met! Yes, you’re fucking annoying sometimes! And your life decisions suck! But even when you were being unfair, difficult, arrogant, I never asked anything from you!”

“You did! And you’re doing it right now! You’re asking me to find a way, to do something!”

“I’m just begging you to not give up, that’s all!”

“Well, I don’t know how to do that!”

“Kurapika-”

“Don’t touch me!”

“You can just follow your feelings, Kurapika, you-”

“I have no feelings anymore! I don’t know what that means!”

Kurapika’s voice broke. Leorio held his breath.

“I feel empty and disconnected, he said in a low voice. “And very, very far away from everything. Especially from you. I don’t even know if I still feel-”

“Stop. Don’t say it.”

Leorio went to sit on the couch and took his face in his hands and rested it there for a while.

“When I met you, I thought you didn’t have feelings at all,” finally said Leorio. “But when I got to know you, I realized that I was totally wrong.”

“How could you know? You’re not in my head, nor in my heart.”

Leorio raised his head and smiled sadly. He didn’t only know about these, he actually felt them too. But never he would have told Kurapika about what happened that night in the hospital. He just couldn’t.

“I just thought-”

“I know what you thought,” Kurapika interrupted.

Leorio looked at him, but the other didn’t.

“You thought everything was going to be fine now. That I would be different, better, healed. Even happy.”

“Don’t-”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, he went on with a sad laugh, I’m still difficult. And selfish. I can only agree with you on that now.”

“You’re just hurt, Kurapika.”

Kurapika shuddered.

“Don’t come nearer.”

Leorio interrupted his movement. A thick silence prevailed between the two. Leorio sighed and took his face in his hands again, with his throat clenched.

“What do you want? What do you want from me?”

“Nothing. You won’t have to worry anymore. I’m moving out in the morning.”

“What?” said Leorio standing up. “Kurapika! Don’t you dare! You-”

Leorio’s phone rang at the same time. At this hour? Leorio looked at the screen, and saw an unknown number, but recognized the area code from his native country. Taken by surprise, he picked up, his heartbeat still loud in his chest.

“Hello?”

“Am I talking to Leorio Paladiknight?” Asked a professional and feminine voice.

“Yes, this is him.”

Kurapika, who was going back to his room, turned around to look at him. That was the first time he was hearing Leorio talk in his native language.

“My name is Mila, I am your grandma’s notary. I am very sorry, Mr. Paladiknight, but she- she passed away last night. She left you everything she had.”

Leorio let his arm fall, the phone still in his palm.


	3. Oceanview

They landed in Selonia in the afternoon. Leorio hadn’t been back for years, and a wave of nostalgia came down his throat as the taxi took them to the tiny, paved, picturesque streets. He saw himself as a child, walking all those alleys by heart with Pietro.   
  
Selonia was built directly on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and all the houses were yellow and blue and green, giving the greyish winter a small festive atmosphere. The population of the city were quite poor, but the ambiance was great.  Grandma’s house was the last one down there, facing the beach. The taxi went down the streets, and finally stopped in front of a small, pale green house with a single floor, having a garden that must have been beautiful a few years ago, as well as another rather dilapidated building that served as a workshop.  
  
The winter here was cold and wet without any snow, completely different than in Yorknew, and  Leorioshivered as he paid the driver and thanked him in his mother tongue. Kurapika was already in front of the house, observing the place in silence. Leorio was still astonished that Kurapika had decided to accompany him, but the blond followed him, without a word, sometimes looking at him sadly.

“This is it. I grew up in this house.”

Kurapika nodded, holding his shoulder bag against him.  Leorio walked towards the entrance, took the key hidden under the tulle carpet, then opened the door.  The house was rustic, simple, but charming.  They arrived in a small kitchen overlooking a living room, with yellow walls, and all the furniture was made of wood.

“She made all of them,” said Leorio.

“Your grandma made the furniture herself?”

“Yes. In the workshop outside.”

  
Kurapika shook his head, impressed. There was a fireplace and a few logs on the floor next to it. The ceiling was pretty low. There were two doors on the right wall of the living room, Leorio’s grandmother’s room and Leorio’s room when he was a kid, and the very small bathroom was direct to their left. In front of them was a large window-door, where the sea was constantly seen, and which also let in the wind and the music of the waves when it was opened.

Kurapika took off his shoes and crossed the house to see through the huge window. Leorio joined him and looked at the ocean as far as the eye could see.

“During the summer, this door is always left open. The breeze is soft. But today, I’m going to start a fire.”

“I’ll take care of it. You should go to the notary.”

Leorio nodded.

“Thanks. Better get those things sorted out now and be done with it.”  


Leorio went to his old room and left his suitcase there.  When it fell on the bed, a small dust cloud exploded in the air and Leorio wondered how long it had been since grandma had not cleaned up.  He felt suddenly guilty.  How long had she been unable to clean up was the most appropriate question.  He should have visited her more often.

He went out of the house while Kurapika was putting logs in the fireplace. The air was even more striking, and he tied his coat. The notary’s office was higher up, near downtown where the market was during the summer. His long legs took him quickly, and the storefront indicated that he was in the right place. He pushed the wooden door and arrived in a nice waiting room. A young girl sitting at an office greeted him.

“Hello, how can I help you?”

“I got a call yesterday or maybe it was the day before yesterday with the jet lag I don’t know anymore, huh, I’m the grandson of Greta Paladiknight and-”

“Ah! I am so sorry. We will all miss Greta.”

Leorio nodded his head. Of course she knew her grandmother. Greta had a reputation for being quite bad-tempered, but she was also very generous to everyone.

“Mila is available right now in her office. That’s the door right there, said the girl waving her hand to a wooden door.”

“Ah. Thank you very much.”

Leorio knocked once, and a young woman’s voice told him to come in, which he did.  
He expected to enter a sober and austere office, as he imagined a notary’s office, but the place was illuminated, painted white, bordered with plants.A white wooden desk was facing him, with two lovely emerald armchairs.A young woman sat at the office and greeted him with a pretty smile.Leorio walked towards her and they shook hands.

“Leorio Paladiknight. We spoke on the phone.”

“Mila Tomini, I’m very pleased to finally meet you. You can have a seat.”

“Thank you.”

Mila sat down again and looked at him. She must have been in her thirties, but she looked younger. She had dark auburn hair, cut at the shoulders, and very green almond eyes. Her mouth was thin, and her teeth were very straight.

“I have to tell you how Greta’s death shook us all. She was still in great shape, so it was a surprise. I can’t imagine how you must feel.”

Leorio nodded, with a small, polite smile.

“She left me her will and it concerns only one person: you,” she said while taking a document from one of her drawers.

“I was her only living family left.”

“Yes, that’s what she told me, but you also had a very special place in her heart. I’m going to read to you her last wishes and then we have to sign some papers to confirm that you accept everything.”

“Good.”

Mila began to read the document. Basically, Leorio received absolutely everything from Greta: the house, the garden, the workshop, the furniture, and an honest amount at the bank. Leorio signed the papers, exchanged some manners, then got up to leave.

“When are you going to move in?” Asked Mila.

“Move in?”

“You’re not taking the house?”

“Ah, uh, I haven’t thought about all that yet. I’ll most likely sell it. I work in Yorknew and have my life there. I can’t stay here, it would be complicated for me.”

“I understand. These are decisions that require thinking about.”

“Yes. Well, thank you for everything, Mila.”

“Leorio,” she replied with a smile. “Goodbye.”

Leorio nodded and came out of the office. He greeted the girl at the entrance and left outside in the winter, his documents under his arm. As he walked, he recognized every small shop, some of which had not even changed an inch. It was probably the new generation that took over the stores and companies now. He passed by the great cathedral, silent and majestic. Children were playing in front, shouting and laughing. He continued his walk and passed by his elementary school. His high school was in another city, a larger city, and he had to walk a long time to get there. The streets were sometimes poorly maintained, and he looked where he was walking to avoid falling into a pothole. He made long detours, the hours passed. He went to the seaside where he walked for a long time, the wind in his face, his shoes sinking into the icy sand. Then he found himself in front of his grandmother’s house again. His house now. For how long? He had to return to the hospital as soon as possible, he also had to think of Kurapika.

He sighed and walked into the house. Everything seemed cleaner. The fire was crackling in the fireplace and something was simmering on the oven. Obviously, the door Kurapika’s room was closed. Leorio took off his coat, scarf and shoes, then went to see what Kurapika had prepared. A vegetable soup.

Leorio, without warning, burst into tears. He restrained himself on the kitchen counter, but he had become blind. His tears were falling, and he must have looked ridiculous, but he just couldn’t stop himself. And he didn’t hear the footsteps behind him, didn’t feel Kurapika’s hand on his back. He cried, sniffed, like a child, while time stood still, and his body no longer obeyed him. He wanted to stop, to apologize, but he couldn’t. He was tired of so many things. Then, finally, it calmed down, as quickly as it started. Kurapika took off his hand and Leorio didn’t know what to say, he didn’t even know what had just happened. He felt strangely relieved.

“You can go back to the bedroom, I’m okay,” said Leorio. “Thanks for the dinner and for cleaning up the house.”

“You know how they call these tears, right? _Les grands pleurs_,” said Kurapika. “A very important step in any deep mourning.”

“I didn’t know you knew something like that.”

“I read, Leorio.”

“Sure, smartass.”

“And I know things about suffering a bereavement.”

Leorio turned around and looked at him.

“I’m sorry,” said Leorio. “Of course you do.”

“No, Leorio. I am sorry for your loss.”

“It’s okay. Thanks, Kurapika.”

They remained silent. The fire was slowly crackling, Leorio realized that the sun had set and that it was getting dark in the house. He walked and lit the living room light. Kurapika did not move, not knowing what was expected of him. Leorio looked at him.

“Go to sleep, I’m fine.”

Kurapika’s shoulders seemed to relax.

“Have some soup, okay?” Said Kurapika.

“Did you have some?”

“Yes,” lied Kurapika. “Goodnight.”

“G’night.”

  
Kurapika disappeared leaving Leorio by himself, as usual. He knew that Kurapika had lied to him, but he saw that the other was making an effort not to worry him. He went to get a bowl of soup and ate it quietly by the fire. Tomorrow, he had to take the steps to sell the house. When he went to bed, his thoughts were dancing all around his mind.

*

When he woke up, the sun had been up for a long time. It was rare that he woke up so late, but he felt his body more rested, his mind calmer. He got up, and went to the living room. The sun was shining and the ocean was sparkling through the windows. It was beautiful. This house gave him this strange feeling of being safe and being able to take his time, just the opposite of his Yorknew lifestyle. Leorio turned to see if Kurapika was up, but his door was closed again, and there was no noise.

Shrugging, Leorio put on his coat and his shoes and went out.He went to buy coffee, bread and eggs, butter and jam, and stopped to buy a newspaper.He came home, made breakfast, feeling strangely well.He thought of his grandmother when he finished his fourth toast on the wooden table that she had made herself.She was the one who taught him so many things, but above all, to rely on oneself to go where one wants in life.And that he could do anything he wanted if he worked hard enough.  
That is what he had always done.

Leorio looked up and his eyes landed on the workshop in the garden. Out of curiosity, he put on his coat and, before going out, scribbled on a paper that there was food in the fridge if Kurapika was getting hungry.

Leaving the house, he realized that the workshop was bigger than he remembered. He entered through the small white door, and arrived in a large room, with wood debris everywhere, countertops with plenty of tools. A large window was overlooking the garden and another one was showing the ocean. The floor was concrete, and the wooden roof was quite high.

Leorio walked carefully towards a table in the center of the room, almost finished, probably the last work of Greta left in suspense. Without thinking, Leorio began to pick up the pieces of wood on the floor and put them in a large barrel in a corner of the room. The day passed, and he cleaned the workshop entirely. In the evening, the place was neat and tidy, looking even bigger, and only the table in the center remained. The place breathed calm and made him feel good.

His stomach gurgled and he decided to go back to eat the rest of the soup, with some leftover bread. Kurapika had not yet swallowed anything as the bread didn’t move an inch and Leorio sighed. If Kurapika didn’t eat tomorrow either, he was going to force him to eat, he promised himself.

He lifted his head towards the bedroom door, which was still closed. He would have liked to go see him, but he weirdly wanted to trust this house. Maybe this place was what Kurapika needed to move on to other things? Maybe he just needed to change air? Leorio felt deeply sad when he remembered their last discussion in Yorknew. Had he not received a call, Kurapika would have left. He was there only out of pity. Or maybe out of guilt? Leorio sighed. Both of those ideas were depressing.  
Despite everything, he always hoped for only one thing, that Kurapika would be happy. Here or elsewhere, with him or without him. That was all he cared about. Was it stupid and naive to think that way?

Leorio finished his meal and went to lit a fire. He tried to read the paper, but his mind couldn’t focus, so he watched the fire burn quietly, and the logs become bright red embers. The silence was both sweet and heavy, and Leorio thought that he could learn to love this rhythm and-

He heard a death cry in Kurapika’s room. Leorio got up, his heart beating, and entered the room without knocking. Kurapika, lying in fetus on the bed, was trembled all over and he was shouting and holding his head in his hands.

“Kurapika, breathe! It’s alright!” Said Leorio sitting beside him, surrounding him with an arm.

“Go away! Go away from me!” said Kurapika, crying.

“It’s alright, Kurapika-”

“They are coming back, they are- NO!”

“No one is here, it’s just you and me,” said Leorio holding his shoulder, “It’s alright! Wake up!”

Kurapika opened his eyes, which were a bright red. He looked at Leorio without recognizing him for a second.

“It’s me. Leorio. You can trust me. It was just a nightmare.”

Leorio took him in his arms and held him as tightly as possible. Kurapika put his head on his chest and his breathing changed, and Leorio heard him cry very silently for the first time.

“I can’t see her anymore,” said Kurapika between two small sobs.

“Her?”

“My mother. I can’t see her face anymore. I’m forgetting her.”

Kurapika cried louder and started to hold Leorio’s shirt as if he were trying not to drown.

“I will forget them all.”

“Kurapika.”

“I can’t hear their voices anymore- they- I’m losing them.”

Leorio hugged Kurapika as hard as possible. Kurapika continued to cry silently. He repeated _I’m losing them _in such a weak voice that Leorio could hardly hear him.

“You are not losing them,” said Leorio softly. “You’ll never lose them. Remember everything you did for them? They are safe now, because of you.”

“I felt slightly closer to them when I was chasing their eyes. But now I see that I- I was only denying the truth. The truth is that I’m alone. For good. I have nothing. I just feel sad and empty, and I am nothing without hatred.”

“You’re more than that, Kurapika. So much more.”

Kurapika was silent.

“I’m not even supposed to be here,” he finally said like he was talking for himself.

“I know you want to go back to YorkNew. I’m sorry that you had to come here in the first place.”

“I’m not talking about that.”

Leorio backed away to look at Kurapika’s face and force him to look at him too.

“What did you mean?”

Kurapika didn’t answer back.

“What did you mean, Kurapika?”

“I’m not supposed to be alive,” said the other with a serious tone.

Leorio swallowed once.

“How can you say something like that?”

“I’m being honest. I was supposed to be dead. It’s only logical. I was prepared to die. I even wrote you that letter. You were supposed to bury me with them.”

“Is this what you wanted?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know what I want anymore.”

Kurapika lowered his head, without saying anything. Leorio got up angrily and left the room. Without thinking, he took his coat and went out on the beach, sitting on the cold sand. The air was less cold, and the moon shone with a thousand lights. He heard the door slammed behind him and Kurapika came to sit next to him.

“Leorio.”

“I lost my grandmother this week. She was the only family I had. You lost your family too.”

“Leorio, I-”

“Shut up! I don’t want to hear it anymore!”

Kurapika looked at him, surprised. Leorio ignored him and looked at the ocean as he shouted.

“Life is not what we plan it to be, Kurapika! I thought I lost you that night too. And you were lucky enough to wake up. _I_ was lucky enough to still have time with you. And yes, we are alive and yes, it fucking hurts sometimes, but you know what? We own them to just try!”

Kurapika looked at him for a moment, and then he simply lowered his head. 

“You're right,” he said very quietly.

Leorio breathed to calm himself down and closed his eyes. He was looking for the right words. He had no good words for that kind of moment. His heart hurt him, his body hurt him, and yet his head seemed to dictate the path to follow.

“You’re not happy and I hate to see you like this. I hate what you think of yourself. I hate everything right now, I’m so angry but I still love you. I’ve been selfishly wanting to keep you to myself. That’s not the love I believe in,” added Leorio in a very low voice, opening his eyes.

“I know I’ve been difficult.”

“And I know you’re doing the best you can under the circumstances.”

“The circumstances of me being a jerk to you?”

“The circumstances of you being lost.”

Kurapika didn’t have the strength to lie about this.

“I’m going to stay here, Kurapika. I felt it today. This is home for me. I’m going to renovate the workshop and make it my own medical practice. That’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”

“I remember. It makes sense.”

“I’m breaking up with you, Kurapika.”

The blond didn't answer, but he understood. Leorio secretly hoped that Kurapika would disagree, but he remained silent like always when something was right. 

“You started life surrounded by hatred and death, and you became used to it. But now, you have this new life, this entire future ahead of you, and I’m no one to tell you what to do with it, but I think you may need to find what you really want. And I won’t let us stand in the way of that.”

Kurapika watched the ocean dance, his hair fell on his red eyes sometimes, but he left them there, ignored them.

“I really tried,” quietly said Kurapika after a while.

“I know. Me too.”

The next morning, Kurapika was gone for good, without further words. Leorio found his bed empty and perfectly done. His heart was hurting, he couldn’t deny it. He also felt that it made sense and he would hold on to that feeling as long as he would need to. He knew it was the time for him to be the doctor he always wanted to be and hopefully forget about the past.


	4. The patient

_Two years and a half later_  


“You’re always working!”

“I’m not always working, Mila, but they need me. I can’t take a day off whenever I want.”  


She sighed. Leorio had again canceled their date because of work for the umpteenth time.  


“I work too, Leorio, I know what work is. But that’s just insane. You-”

“Sorry, Mila, I must hang up, I already have three people waiting for me.”

“I can’t believe it!”

She shook her head. That was a complete waste of effort.  


“Fine,” she said. “But don’t forget about the music festival alright? It’s this weekend, and we can’t miss it, it’s Flam Fraka! You promised.”  


Leorio looked at his watch, half listening.  


“Yeah, sure. I’ll call you soon, okay?”

“Bye, Leo.”  


Leorio put his phone away and went out of the house to find the place he never left: his grandmother’s former workshop, now expanded into a medical clinic. Leorio had managed to open the place to patients a year earlier, after many renovations. There were now five separate rooms: the waiting room, an examination room which was also his office, an operating room, and a recovery room. Leorio, thanks to the allowances he had received when he was a member of the Zodiacs, had been able to pay for all the equipment necessary for the proper functioning of his clinic. He also wanted to keep his promise to himself: all care was completely free.  


The waiting room in the office was already starting to fill up completely and it was still very early in the morning. Everyone greeted Leorio eagerly, now knowing him very well, and he greeted everyone warmly.  


Keeping all his savings to pay for the equipment and care, Leorio had not hired any help, nor a secretary, and was, therefore, doing everything by himself. He was overwhelmed, but he was also in his element. Before going to his office, he kindly reminded people that there were tea and coffee on the table for them (because this kind of thing was also a priority for Leorio).  


Leorio entered his office and quickly looked at the list of patients of the day, doing a mental examination of the most complex cases. Up until now, he didn't have to do serious operations, but he knew that it was only a matter of time. Today, however, the list indicated only fairly mild cases, most of which were drug renewals, and regular examinations.  


People came into his office one after the other. He did a quick scan with his Nen, advised them on certain lifestyle habits, prescribed medication. Thanks to his Nen, everything was quite fast and painless. He had to repair the wrist of a little girl who had fallen in skateboarding and reduce the inflamed muscles of a worker who had sprained his ankle. That didn't took a minute, as Leorio's Nen was becoming more efficient and powerful with time.   


Finally, the day passed as fast as the others, and when there was no one left, the sun had set. Leorio took the opportunity to take out his files on each patient to write his reports. He was very late in his notes, having too little time for this kind of thing, and the stack of documents was piling up dangerously on his desk. He looked at it and sighed. It was the only thing in his line of work he would have liked to avoid, but unfortunately, if he wanted to keep his budget primarily for care, he had to continue to do everything on his own. He was now so renowned in the area that people came to see him from as far away as the capital of his country, Jinalta, three hours away. Leorio was delighted and that encouraged him.  He pushed back the bills that were piling up too. Leorio didn’t have to be good at math to understand that he couldn’t pay for all of his patients' medical bills his whole life, but it was not yet the time to think about these things...  


The hours passed and it was almost midnight when Leorio stretched out to take a break. He probably still had to work for another hour or two, but suddenly, his phone rang, and the screen displayed a confidential number.  


“Hello?” asked Leorio with curiosity.

“Leorio, this is Cheadle.”

“Cheadle! It’s been years! How are-”

“We don’t have time for etiquette, Leorio. We need you at the Association as soon as possible.”

“What? What is going on?”

“I can’t reveal the details over the phone, that would put our safety on the line. I’ll explain everything when you get to Yorknew.”  


Leorio looked at his papers, his office in disorder, all the work to go on…  


“Cheadle, I-”

“We need you, Leorio,” insisted Cheadle. “You’re still a Hunter, aren’t you?”  


He had not often heard this tone of voice of his former teacher and colleague, who normally knew how to keep calm, even in the most chaotic moments (and there had been loads of them in the episode of the Dark Continent). Hearing the word Hunter awakened in him something buried long ago, something that awakened the urge for adventure.  


“Okay, I’ll be there.”

“According to my sources, you are currently in Selonia and there is a direct flight in exactly one hour. You can be in Yorknew in the morning where a driver will be waiting for you at the airport.”  


How the Association always knew this kind of stuff was creepy, but Leorio was used to it.  


“Good. I’ll see you there.”

“Thank you, Leorio. See you soon.”  


They hung up, and Leorio felt his heartbeat in his chest. It had been more than two years since he had set foot in Yorknew and this life was now far behind him, it would feel strange to go back there. And why did Cheadle need him in particular? She had access to all the Hunters in the world, Hunters who were the most powerful, the most experienced.   
The plane landed on Yorknew. Leorio had not slept at all, accustomed to being awake for long hours at night. Leorio quickly passed through customs thanks to his license of Hunter which he had not used for a long time, since Madgork desert, forever ago.  
He walked straight, sure of himself, towards the exit of the airport and looked at his phone. Cheadle had written to him that a car would be waiting for him. Upon arriving outside, the warm air contrasted sharply with the extremely air-conditioned air at the airport, and he took off his black jacket and slipped it under his arm. His white shirt made his complexion look darker than before, now that he was living by the sea. A man, all dressed in black, waiting in front of a black luxury car, spotted him and gave him a discreet nod. Leorio gave him a sign in turn, and went towards him.  


“Mr. Paladiknight,” he said by opening the rear passenger door  


Leorio thanked the man and sat down, while the driver took his place behind the wheel. The car started and moved towards downtown Yorknew, which, despite the early hours, was already succumbing to heavy traffic. If he had been accustomed to all this agitation, Leorio was now noticing all the intensity and energy of the city, which somewhat overwhelmed him.  
He looked at his phone, to make sure that he had not had an emergency since his departure, feeling sorry for having to close his office for a day or two. There was the city hospital in Selonia, but the prices were sometimes exorbitant, especially for its patients who could not afford such treatment.  
One day and I come back, thought Leorio. Everything will be fine.  


The car passed in front of his university, and even near the hospital where he worked with Sue. He smiled when he saw it, promised himself he’d stop by before returning to Selonia. Then the car turned right and faced a large closed door. The driver lowered his window and put his Nen on a small device on the wall. The door opened and the car entered what appeared to be a long tunnel. After a while, the car stopped, and Leorio saw that it was almost completely dark outside. Not creepy at all, thought Leorio.  


“Here we are, Mr. Paladiknight.”

“Thank you.”  


He opened his door, and as soon as Leorio got out of the car with his briefcase, the car left in the other direction. In front of him, a small metal door faced him. There was a small device similar to the one on the outside, but this time it was a simple slot to put a card on it, as well as a small detector pad.  
Leorio, accustomed to this kind of modality, released his license from Hunter, dropped it in the slot and put his hand on the pad at the same time. He made a very small amount of Nen appear on his hand, and the door opened like magic.  
He took back his card and went in. He arrived in a very large and classy room, with only one office in the center, where a man was sitting and working on his computer. Without raising his head, as Leorio approached the office, he said,  


“Mr. Paladiknight, I will inform your arrival immediately.”  


Having no place to sit, Leorio walked and looked around him. He remembered the first time he set foot here. He had always gone through the main entrance. This time, his arrival was obviously a secret and he was wondering why. Cheadle arrived a few minutes later, looking completely dismayed and tired.  


“Leorio,” she said, shaking his hand. “Follow me, you must have many questions. I will explain everything. Or rather, I will show everything to you.”  


Leorio followed her in a maze of stairs and doors and corridors. He had never accessed this part of the building, probably kept secret for many reasons. Leorio had little trouble imagining the number of secrets the Association kept, just thinking about the Chimera Ants and the Dark Continent… These days, he knew that Gon and Killua were part of a Hunters team on an underwater mission, but they couldn’t tell him more.   


“No one can access this part of the building except me and Beyond Netero. The sensors for opening the doors only recognize our Nen.”

“Netero’s son is down here? The new president of the Association?”

“Yes. Coming back from the Dark Continent, it became clear that we had to form a team, him and I. Beyond has his charisma, strength, and people are behind him, especially after what he accomplished on the Dark Continent. He was welcomed as a hero.”

“So you’ve surfed this wave to keep the Association’s opinion positive. Like you did with me at the election.”  


Cheadle nodded, blushing a little.  


“Beyond is a good leader, just like his father was. But he is also a strong character that may displease some people - like myself, at first, I admit it- and he made several enemies along the way. There are many people who want to take his place and overthrow his power.”

She continued to speak as Leorio followed her in many corridors which looked like a hidden labyrinth.  


“These Hunters are not focused on peace and rationality of science. They value competition, money, and power. We worked together, Leorio, you know in which values I hold my ideals to guide the Association. We could lose what we fought for-”

“What about Beyond?”

“Beyond is behind me. He seems independent and quite rebellious, but he believes in his own father’s work. Yes, we had our differences but we came to an agreement,” she said, stopping in front of a heavy solid metallic door. “Especially since he’d rather go back to the Dark Continent, and I’d rather be here. The problem is that these days we have to invent reasons for the repeated absence of Beyond. People are starting to talk, especially knowing that to travel to the Dark Continent is more controlled than ever and it can't be the only reason why he is not-”  


She put her hand on the handle.  


“Everything you will see, Leorio, must remain between us.”  


Leorio nodded, intrigued. She opened the door, and Leorio had a vision of horror. Beyond Netero, or rather what was left of Beyond, was lying on a hospital bed in an artificial coma. His body was deformed everywhere by lumps as big as melons, and his skin tore in places. His skin had turned red and sometimes blue and yellow in more bloated places. His face was recognizable and seemed saved from this strange symptom. The first shock passed, Leorio felt his instinct as a doctor and came nearer. He saw that the bumps were actually-  


“His muscles?”

“Exactly.”  


Leorio palpated his skin, observed him. Then he looked at Cheadle, who was looking at him, worried.  


“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said.

“Me neither. I think he caught this disease, or what we may call it, during his last trip to the Dark Continent, five months ago. He seemed perfectly fine, but then his muscles started to swell. It was much less severe at first and I could control it with some medication and my own Nen. But since a month, his crises are voracious, his muscles are breaking up the bones, the pain is unbearable and he is losing consciousness most of the times.”

“His organs must have been compressed. I would be especially worried about his lungs and his heart...”

“Yes, I agree. Many bones are broken, but his rib cage seems to be holding up for now. However, I’m worried about the next crisis.”

“The pain must be terrible, said Leorio while thinking and processing all the information. “What about his blood tests?”

“Everything is perfect. On paper, he is perfectly healthy. That’s where I’m stuck. There is absolutely nothing abnormal, nowhere.”

“Well, if it’s a sickness from the Dark Continent, it could be anything.”

“Yes, and if we don’t find this anything, Beyonds will die. I don’t know which crisis will be the last, but if it’s not next, well- we need you, Leorio.”

“For now, I can reduce the swelling and fix the bones.”  


Cheadle nodded. Leorio put his briefcase and jacket on the ground. He looked at Beyond, huge and disfigured. Lifting his hands, his Nen started to cross the immense body, in a first scan. Leorio, closing his eyes, could see the tissues, the fractured bones, the expanding muscles. Beginning with the neck, he concentrated his Nen on each muscle, compressing them gently. Then, he healed the tissues one by one, the fractures one by one. He had become so accustomed to working like this, he worked only on instinct. How many ankle strides had he healed like this? One hour passed, then another.  
  
Finally, all the muscles relaxed slowly, then resumed their normal size, little by little. Beyond’s entire body seemed relieved, while the lungs could breathe normally. Cheadle seemed to catch her breath too.  


“Incredible, Leorio. As a former teacher to her apprentice, I can say that your abilities impress me. Your Nen has become very strong.”

“What I did will only help Beyond temporarily, Cheadle. I already feel resistance, but I don’t know where it comes from. Normally, when I fix muscles and bones, it doesn’t take that long.”

Cheadle nodded.

“I suspected something like that. Your ability to repair the muscles won’t really cure him of his disease. But for now, it’s an important crutch, because Beyond will be able to go about its business, and we will be able to control its crises. But I need you. The next crises will be fatal. Your Nen is the only solution to detect the real problem, I have no other resources.”  


Leorio looked at her.  


“Cheadle, I understand, but I live in Selonia now. People are counting on me there. I can’t stay in YorkNew, even if as a doctor I would like to help anyone who needs it.”

“That’s not a problem, Leorio, I’ve already thought about it. You can stay in Selonia. I’m not supposed to reveal it but we have a Hunter who works with us who has the capacity to travel instantly anywhere and bring us with him. We will come to you when there is a crisis, and for the tests as well.”

“Is that- Is that safe for Beyond to travel like that?”

“I think that’s the best option right now. And we’re going to pay you, Leorio.”

“I, huh-”

“I know your dreams Leorio, we worked together for a year. I know you want to offer free medical help to your patients. Well, if you find a way to cure Beyond’s disease, you’ll never have to think about it again. The Association is committed to paying all medical expenses for all of your patients for life.”  


Leorio couldn’t answer anything. That was- generous. Far too generous.   


“What are the risks?” He asked.  


Cheadle cleared her throat.  


“I told you Beyond had several enemies.”

“What does that have to do with me? I’m only a doctor.”

“Leorio, if they find out that Beyond’s health is in your hands, your death is equivalent to his death.”  


Leorio nodded.  


“I see. I get it.”

“Of course, your safety would become a priority for the Association and we will take steps to ensure you have nothing to fear.”

“So that commits me to crisis management? And do research to find his disease?”

“I would need you to be there at the various public events just to make sure everything is in order.”

“How many events?”

“For the next month, there’s only one ball tonight, where Beyond has to give a speech.”

“You want me to give him a little check-up before he goes on stage?”

“Exactly. And then you can take the first flight to Selonia.”  


Leorio nodded. He had no interest in politics. He didn't care who was right and who was wrong in this story, but he could never let anyone suffer without trying his best to help him, and that was his priority. He looked at Cheadle, decided.  


“I accept. I’ll do my very best.”

“Thank you. The Association is so grateful and especially me,” said Cheadle. “Hopefully, we will find a cure.”

“We must,” said Leorio.  


Leorio looked at Beyond, who was sleeping peacefully. To heal this man meant to heal thousands of people, maybe more. If Leorio found a cure for him, no one would have to pay to be cured anymore. Leorio clenched his fists, determined.  


*  


They quickly walked back to the entrance and Cheadle told him everything he needed to know for now.  


“I sent you all the details on your phone for tonight. We booked a room in your name at the Time Hotel so you can rest for the day. Your bodyguard will meet you there, because even at the ball tonight, I’d rather not take any chances. There's a driver waiting for you outside.”  


They arrived at the entrance and Cheadle shook his hand.  


“We will say that you are at the ball as an alumnus of the Zodiacs and as a survivor of the first mythical voyage to the Dark Continent.”

“To bring back good memories,” said Leorio with a smile, sarcastically.   


Cheadle offered him one of her rare smiles.  


“I’ll see you tonight.”  


She disappeared and Leorio left the building by the secret entrance, where the driver was waiting for him.


	5. Unexpected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the delay! Normally I post a chapter every week, but school and work made my schedule completely crazy lately, and I have to slow down my rhythm for a while! :(   
Hope you will enjoy this chapter anyway xxx

Upon arriving at his hotel room, Leorio went to dinner at the restaurant which was directly on the roof of the building. The view of the city was flamboyant, the meal delicious, and Leorio offered himself a cup of rare white wine. He hadn’t taken a break in years, and it was good for him. His gaze crossed some pretty women, dressing in classy black dresses and wearing sunglasses that were probably worth more than he could imagine. Leorio smiled at himself, remembering how much he had hoped to be part of this society that seemed unattainable as a child. In the end, even with money, there were always problems. Money didn’t solve everything, but it did help. Especially in his line of work.  
  


Having finished sipping his wine, Leorio stood up and was told that his meal was already paid, courtesy of the Association. He thanked the waiter and went straight to his room, on the top floor. Opening the door with his card, he arrived in a spacious and beautiful room. The wall in front was completely glass-walled, giving another magnificent view of the city. There was a Japanese ink-style canvas above the king-size bed, with black blankets. Adjacent to the bedroom was a kitchen and a huge living room, where a TV took the whole wall. Finally, there was a marble bathroom, with a jacuzzi and a glass shower, with different kinds of lighting, depending on the mood.  
  


Wow, thought Leorio. He would never have wasted his money on this kind of room, but now that he was there, it was better to take advantage of it. He undressed and went into the jacuzzi in warm water. He remained there for a long time, breathing the vapors of lavender and eucalyptus, relaxing quietly. He held his breath and put his head underwater, feeling in a soft bubble. When he raised his head, he heard in the distance that someone was knocking at his door. Leorio ignored it. If the person was in charge of the household, he was not available at the moment. In any case, he didn’t want to see anyone.  
  


The person knocked again, more loudly this time. Leorio, with a sigh, got up and out of the tub, took a towel and wiped his body quickly, then put on a black dressing gown that was on a door hook. His hair was still wet and dripping down his neck. The person knocked again.   
  


“Yes, yes, I’m coming!” shouted Leorio opening the door.  
  


His jaw opened when he saw the face in front of him. His hands tingled and his whole body was crossed by an electric current that was both unpleasant and gentle. Kurapika’s face, in front of him, lost its colors and looked even paler than usual, almost the same color as his perfectly white shirt. They both remained frozen for a moment, staring at each other.  
  


“What the hell? How did you know I was here?” asked Leorio, astonished.

“I didn’t. The Association contacted me for a job and-”  
  


Kurapika stopped talking. They understood at the same time. Kurapika was the new bodyguard sent by the Association. Leorio opened his eyes.  
  


“Oh, god. Are you fucking kidding me? No way. No. How could you say yes to something like this?”

“I never know the name of the people I have to protect until I meet them, and they are not even forced to share it with me. I just know the level of protection which is required and the type of protection needed, that kind of thing. Work things.”  
  


That made sense. Kurapika’s voice had regained its usual capacity and professionalism, but his face remained pale.  
  


“Then I’ll complaint. You can go back, they’ll send someone else.”  
  


Kurapika seemed to hesitate, looking worried.  
  


“This is just awkward, Kurapika. There’s no way you’ll be my bodyguard.”

“The level of protection they said you needed is very, very high. The highest I’ve ever seen actually.”

“For what I care!”

“Leorio. You have the health of the most powerful Hunter in your hands. Don’t you realize how serious this is?”  
  


Leorio scoffed. What he couldn’t make his mind was working with Kurapika. The hell. He went to sit on the bed and Kurapika came into the room. He stood upright, his chains prominently on his right hand. His clothes were impeccable, and his hair a little shorter than the last time Leorio had seen him, more than two years ago.He looked strangely healthy, a first probably since Leorio knew him.  
  


“So what now? You’re going to call me _sir_ or _boss_?” Leorio asked, looking away.

“If you want,” said Kurapika with a shrug.

“This is fucking ridiculous!” exploded Leorio.

“We are not forced to talk to each other. I’m here to protect you, not to chat.”

“Well, I don’t need to be protected all the time so you can leave now, right?”

“Actually-” started Kurapika.

“What now?”

“They asked for a 24/7 service.”

“WHAT? No way! This is out of the question!”

“You won’t notice me. I know how to disappear. That’s how I work.”

“I don’t care how you normally work, Kurapika. I am not your usual client, as you know. Working 24/7 is, for many reasons, just not okay. It’s not healthy and knowing you could see everything I do is totally creepy.”

“Why?”

“Don’t you know the word _privacy_?”

“I’m a professional, Leorio, I’ll obviously respect your privacy.”  
  


Leorio sighed and took his face in his hands. He breathed slowly to calm down. It seemed that he couldn't find a solution, that there was no way to escape.  
  


“I really need a drink. Should we take something from the bar?”

“I never drink on duty.”

“Of course,” replied Leorio, rolling his eyes. “Well then, I’m going to call Cheadle and figure something out. You can stay here.”  
  


Kurapika nodded, tried for a moment to make a comment on Leorio’s clothing, but Leorio did not give a damn about being naked under his dressing gown and stormed out of the room.He went to take the elevator and when he arrived on the ground floor, he pushed the entrance door so hard that it almost broke. Once outside, he dialed his colleague’s number.  
  


“Cheadle? There is no way on earth that Kurapika Kurta will be my bodyguard!”

“I knew you would say something like this.”

“You must have other people! Anyone!”

“I know you two are friends, but if Kurapika is available for one of our missions, we are lucky to have him, the others are not even comparable.”

“But this is unbelievable!”

“Your safety is a priority, Leorio. I’ve already told you. I’m sorry but I am not arguing with you on this.”  
  


Leorio sighed. He knew that tone of voice too well. She wouldn’t change her mind. And he also knew she was right. Kurapika was the best. It irritated him, but it was the truth.   
  


“Okay, then. Let’s negotiate.”

“About what?”

“The 24/7 service.”

“What about it?

“I can’t accept that. I don’t want it, and Kurapika needs to sleep, he needs a break sometimes. As a doctor, you must review this schedule. Let him have eight hours a day for himself, at least to sleep.”  
  


She hesitated.  
  


“Six. And you must always stay in touch.”

“If that’s your best offer, I’ll take it.”

“It is. I’ll see you tonight.”

  
They hung up. Leorio still did not believe it. He went up to his room, where Kurapika had not moved, standing as upright as before. He looked at Leorio with a serious face, questioning him in silence. Leorio passed his hand through his wet hair and closed his eyes for a moment. He breathed, then he said without looking at Kurapika:  
  


“It seems that we will be working together for now on.”

“Okay, Kurapika nodded in a neutral tone.”  
  


Leorio sat on his bed. He took his hands in each other and leaned as if to reflect, his eyebrows frowned.  
  


“We need to set some rules,” he said.

“Rules?” Asked Kurapika.

“Yeah.”

“What type of rules?”

“Rules that will allow me to be comfortable with this arrangement.”  
  


Kurapika nodded once.  
  


“Ah. I perfectly understand and agree.”

“I don’t want you to live in my house.”

“The Association already rented a place for me in Selonia.”

“Good. And I don’t want to see you always following me. And you can’t judge my lifestyle. I don’t want any comments about it. In fact, I don’t want any personal comment or talk.”

“Leorio, let me be clear. This is work. You can trust me on that matter.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

“Is that all?”

“No. Another thing. You will have six hours a day for yourself, which means you are not working during that time.”

“No, Cheadle told me-”

“I changed the contract.”  
  


Kurapika frowned.  
  


“But I won’t be able to protect you properly if-”

“We will be in touch. I’ll call you if I need it.”

“I disagree.”

“I’m the one who gets to decide.”  
  


Kurapika looked at him, then looked straight ahead. If he was annoyed, he hid it well and nodded once.  
  


“Fine.”

“Thank you. That’s all for me. For now, that is. Is there anything you need to add on your side?”

“Yes. We need a story when we will be in Selonia. People will wonder who I am and we obviously cannot tell them the truth.”

“We can just say that you’re a friend who’s visiting. You’ve already been there anyway.”

“No one would recognize me, and it’s not specific enough. I think I should be your medical trainee.”

“Ah. Yeah, cool. That’s a good idea.”  
  


Kurapika hesitated for a moment before answering.   
  


“Fine, then. I’ll leave you to rest. We should be ready by seven to be at the ball on time.”  
  


Leorio nodded his head, while Kurapika turned around and left. Leorio dropped his back on the bed while sighing. He suddenly felt exhausted. Even when he worked long hours without taking the time to sleep, he felt less tired than he felt now. The bed was comfortable and without realizing it, he eventually fell asleep.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	6. Check-up

There was a noise against the door, a knock, but Leorio was deeply asleep, that he struggled to wake up, mixing reality and dream. Someone arrived, blurred, a silhouette that lit the bedside lamp in the room that had become dark because the sun had recently set.

“Leorio, you need to get ready, it’s already seven and you’re not dressed up yet.” 

Leorio mumbled something incomprehensible for any response and protected his eyes from the too-bright light with one arm.

“Leorio, we’ll be late.”

That voice was familiar and Leorio’s sleepy mind didn’t know if it was a good thing or not.He woke up suddenly and cleared his eyes. He blinked two, three times and saw Kurapika’s face.

Ah. 

Yes. 

It all came back to him. It was unfortunately not a dream. Kurapika was indeed his bodyguard for an indefinite period. The blond was already ready, dressed in a black shirt, a very thin white tie, and a black jacket.He stood upright, his phone in one hand, his chains visible in the other.

“Sorry, uh, I didn’t see the time. How did you come in?”

“I also have the card to this room, just in case. I’ll wait for you downstairs to let you get prepared. I’ve already called a taxi.” 

Leorio nodded and stood up as Kurapika came out of the room. He felt deeply annoyed as if he had just given Kurapika a good reason to take control of the situation. He entered the bathroom and slipped into the shower, the hot water felt very good and calmed his mind. He remembered that no matter the context, Kurapika would have taken control of the situation, like the perfect control freak that he was. Leorio had to let go, or he’d be annoyed for a long time.

On his way out, he brushed his teeth, then dressed himself in his gorgeous black velvet suit, and put a burgundy bow tie on his white shirt. He put on a little cologne, but not too much, and put on his dark glasses. He grabbed his bag, his wallet, and his phone, and walked out of the room. The shower had awakened him and he began to regain his usual senses. He went into the elevator to get down to the ground floor. In the hall, Kurapika looked at him without saying anything, then turned his attention to his phone.

“The taxi is already here.” 

“Okay. Let’s go then.” 

“Yes.”

They went out without speaking to each other and got in a the black car waiting for them. Kurapika took the back seat while Leorio sat in the front seat. He greeted the driver, who nodded at him. Kurapika, on his phone, was writing e-mails and seemed very focused, and Leorio, still asleep, was yawning. He allowed himself to close his eyes a little.  Kurapika had not lied about his ability to conceal his presence. Even now, he was so silent that Leorio ended up getting lost in his own thoughts. Leorio thought life was strangely made. Years before, he dreamed of having only small minutes shared with Kurapika and he could never see him. Now that he didn’t want him in his life, that he had moved on, Kurapika would be here, day and night. When the timing was off.

The taxi arrived in an area that Leorio did not know and stopped in front of large open doors made of black metal, which kept in the distance a large old and magnificent building that made think of a museum of natural history. The taxi dropped them off and left quickly.  Leorio and Kurapika advanced into the long entrance of small white stones, lined with century-old trees to the left, and a large artificial lake to the right. The air was soft and swans were dancing on the water while others brushed their white feathers from their beaks, ignoring them completely.

The guests arrived quietly, in beautiful dresses and chic suits. In front of the building, people clung together to enter, greeting acquaintances here and there. Leorio did not know anyone, except some familiar faces of Hunters he sometimes saw at the Association when he was a member of the Zodiacs. Kurapika must have known much more than he did, and Leorio noticed the look many people had on him when they passed in front of them to enter the mansion. Something like a great respect, and even, Leorio was amazed, like fear.

“Do you know these people?” Leorio asked, as they entered the building.

“Some.”

“You seem to have gained quite the reputation.”

Kurapika shrugged, looking calm, but always keeping an eye on the surrounding area. When they looked around them in the entrance, as huge as it was majestic, Cheadle seemed to come out of nowhere.

“Leorio. Kurapika. You’re here.”

“Cheadle, how is he?” Asked Leorio, while Kurapika nodded to say hello.

“Come with me, he is in a private room. We can't talk here. ”

Leorio and Kurapika followed her through the crowd, who were quietly conversing, a glass of champagne in hand, an orchestra playing classical tunes. Cheadle took them out of sight, into a fairly long corridor, and she walked to the last door. She knocked once, and then entered. Beyond, impressively well-built, was sitting on an armchair in a room that looked like a library. He lifted up his head, and a broad smile spread on his face. He stood up to shake hands with Leorio.

“Finally! The man of the moment!”

“Nice to properly meet you,” said Leorio, blushing a little. “You look better.”

“Thanks to you! I knew you by reputation, and now I have no doubt about it. You have already saved my life, if I may say! I fully trust you for my recovery.”

Leorio nodded, trying to look confident, while Beyond turned to look at Kurapika.

“Kurapika, as usual, we’re counting on you!”

Kurapika nodded, without letting any emotion appear.

“Did you have any pain today?” Asked Leorio, already in a professional mode. “Any s welling?”

“Well, not at the moment. Do you have to do a check-up?”

“Yes, that would be preferable. Can you sit in that chair, and I’ll make sure everything is okay.”

Beyond went to sit down and Leorio's Nen appeared, crossing into the body of the great man.

“It’s a pleasant feeling,” said Beyond.

Leorio did not respond, focused on checking every muscle, every bone, to be sure that everything was in the right dimension, without any weird pressure. Then, when he finished his scan, he frowned.

“Everything seems right for now.” 

“Yes, I haven’t had any mood swings yet, so…”

“Mood swings? What kind of mood swings?”

“Oh, I don’t know if it has anything to do with it, 'cause I get moody all the time, and Cheadle could witness it!”

Beyond burst out laughing as Cheadle rolled her eyes. 

“Tell me more, please,” said Leorio with a very serious tone.

“Well,” said Beyond scratching his head. “I noticed that before the swelling, I feel a kind of frenzy, impulsivity? I don’t know how to describe it...”

“Is your mood changing then?”

“Maybe. I guess so. I don’t know. It is subtle.”

Beyond shrugged. Leorio nodded his head, tempted to ask him more questions, but Cheadle looked at the time and looked stressed. 

“Beyond, it's your speech in 3 minutes. We have to be on time, and you know why.”

“Good, good! Leorio, Kurapika, it was a pleasure. Have a safe flight and I hope we won’t have to see each other again soon!” Says Beyond, laughing out loud while leaving the room.

Cheadle seemed to apologize in silence. 

“I’ll let you know and we'll come to you. Thank you, Leorio. Kurapika.”

She nodded and left the room, leaving Leorio and Kurapika alone again. Kurapika was still typing on his phone.

“There will be a taxi for us in 5 minutes. We should get outside.”

“Okay,” says Leorio.

They went out of the room and walked to the reception, where the people stood, listening to Beyond who spoke with his great deep and sympathetic voice. He made the guests laugh, and Leorio and Kurapika came out neither seen nor known. Leorio took a glass of champagne while passing and swallowed it under Kurapika’s gaze.

“What? It was free.”

“I didn’t say anything.” 

“Your face said enough.” 

“That’s our taxi.” 

Leorio followed Kurapika to a white car, and they got in without saying a word.

“To the airport, please- oh, no, wait, is that okay with you if we make one stop before?” Asked Leorio to Kurapika. 

“That’s none of my business, Leorio. Do whatever you have to do.”

“Ah, yes, cool, I forgot I was the boss. I might start to love this,” said Leorio. “To the West Hospital, please,” he added to the driver.

*

As they arrived in the doctors' lounge, a little brunette with large glasses stood up, mad with joy.

“LEORIO! I can’t believe it! Why didn’t you say that you were…”

“It’s a long story I can’t say, unfortunately. I’m happy to see you, Sue! You should come and visit me sometimes. Klaus came last winter, we had a blast!” 

“I know, he told me about it. I really wanted to come too, but I’m now the head surgeon here and it’s hard to take a break and- is that… Kurapika? Oh my god! How are you? You look great!”

“Sue, it’s been a while,” said Kurapika with a real smile (the first smile Leorio saw on his face since that afternoon).

He stepped forward and took Sue’s hand. She had a huge smile.

“So, you’re back together, then? I can’t be happier! I was wishing for it, of course, because it was such nonsense that you two broke up, I mean-”

“I’m stopping you right there, Sue,” interrupted Leorio, while Kurapika was getting paler again. “Kurapika and I are only working together on something.”

Sue seemed to be taken with a startling disappointment and tried to hide it with difficulty.

“Ah. Okay. I mean. Fine, I guess you two know better what is best for-”

“Yes, anyway,” said Leorio trying to change the subject and breaking the awkward moment, “We need to leave for the airport.”

“Already? I really need to take a vacation soon and see Selonia with my own eyes,” said Sue. “But until then, I was very happy to see you, my friends!” 

“Take care, okay?” Said Leorio with a smile. 

“Sure. And don’t make anything crazy, Kurapika, alright?” Said Sue, “I love to see you healthy, it looks good on you.”

Kurapika sincerely laughed. 

“I’ll try my best.”


	7. The Portal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Long time no see!  
After my own life's big changes this year, I had no choice but to put this story on hold and take care of many things. but now I'm back for good :)  
I received beautiful comments over the last months. You have no idea how they helped me and inspired me to write again. Thank you so much for your words.  
I also received an amazing Kurapika sketch inspired by this fic from the talented Katzerei, please go have a look over here: https://twitter.com/kunlinaki/status/1245825673777815552?s=21
> 
> i'll see you soon,  
rose

There was a very dense crowd in the streets when they arrived in Selonia. They got off the taxi, thanked the driver, and made their way through the streets. You could hear music and people laugh. There were food stalls and merchants of all kinds, selling trinkets and souvenirs everywhere. 

“Very festive” Kurapika noted. 

“It’s one of the most famous music festivals in my country. I forgot it started.” 

Leorio walked faster, and Kurapika followed him, looking around. They finally entered a less crowded alley and Leorio walked briskly and arrived at his house. Kurapika recognized the place and waited for Leorio to unlock the door. As they went inside, Leorio went to put his suitcase on his bed. When he came back to the living room, he was surprised to see Kurapika still there, standing and waiting.

“Are you, huh, always going to follow me?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, Kurapika, this is a joke. A real joke. Don’t you have anything else to do?”

Kurapika raised his eyebrows.

“I am your bodyguard. This is what I do.” 

“Yes, fine, I got it, but you can’t ask me to just- I don’t know- being used to see you again, just like that.”

“I’m not asking anything.” 

“That’s not -I mean- I don’t know how to talk to you! It’s weird.” 

“You don’t need to talk to me, Leorio.” 

“Right. Sure. Like it wouldn’t be awkward. You, following me and supposed to be working with me, and we never talk? People would think I’m fucking rude!”

“If you care about that, talk to me like you would with another doctor, then.” 

Leorio nodded, still unsure.

“Okay, I’ll try. I still think that all this bodyguard thing is unnecessary.” 

“You have literally the health of the most powerful Hunter in your hands. We talked about this. Do you know how many people wish for the president's death? Don’t you think it would be easier to kill you instead?”

“You think I’m not strong enough to defend myself, don't you?”

“That is not the question. How can you do that while you’re healing him? Or other people? I know how you are when you’re working, all your focus is on your patient, not on yourself.” 

“Of course, it is! I’m a doctor for Christ’s sake,” sighed Leorio. “This is still a shitty situation.” 

“It’s not permanent. I won’t be needed anymore when the president will be healed.”

“Is that even possible? That sickness is terrible. I’ve never seen anything like this.” 

Leorio sighed and sat on one chair.

“You saw terrible sicknesses on the dark continent, Leorio. You’ve seen worse.” 

“Not like this.” 

Leorio stood up and walked, thinking.

“Next time, I will need to make all the tests to understand his condition better. And hopefully, find a cure.” 

“What do you want me to do?”

“Nothing, you’re not really my medical trainee, remember?”

“I want to help, Leorio. You can’t do this alone.” 

They exchanged a look, then the doorbell rang. Leorio jumped and went to open the door. A brunette smiled at him and took him in her arms.

“I missed you. Are you ready?”

“Mila, hello,” said Leorio, “huh- ready for what?”

“Leo, you promised me last week! We’re going to the festival to have some fun with Clarisse and- oh, hi! Who are you?”

Mila saw Kurapika standing in the living room and released Leorio. She went across the room to shake Kurapika's hand.

“Hi,” said Kurapika with a smile. “Kurapika. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, I'm Mila! Are you a friend of Leorio?”

“No. I’m his new medical trainee.” 

“Yes, and we were just talking about a tricky surgery we have to do this week,” added Leorio. “I don’t think we can make it to the festival, Mila. We need to, huh, get prepared.”

“What are you talking about? You never have the time. We talked about this! And you promised! You can take a break for tonight, surely! And it’s our favorite band who’s playing today- Kurapika, you must come too!”

“I would love to go,” Kurapika replied with a charming smile. “I would like to see more of this town. Leorio?”

What an act, thought Leorio, rolling his eyes. He obviously was good at it. 

“Fine,” he replied. 

“I am so glad!” Mila said. “Let’s go, Clarisse is waiting for us near the stage!” 

They left the house, and Mila took Leorio's arm. She was shining, with her flowery dress, her brown curly hair, her big dark eyes. Kurapika kept a polite distance, then she turned to him. She gave him advice on places he should have a drink, where to go shopping, how to avoid rushing the lady who owned the cheese factory with an impossible character but the best cheese in the world, and Kurapika smiled, nodded, thanked her. Leorio said nothing, a little annoyed in spite of himself.

The crowd grew denser and denser. Everybody seemed to move towards the same place, a huge scene which had been set up in a park overlooking the sea. They walked towards the entrance of the site, where they were searched for security reasons. Leorio had forgotten to warn Kurapika, but they let him pass easily, which probably showed that Kurapika had brilliantly hidden his weapons, or that he did not have one (Leorio suspected that the latter explanation was more than unlikely). They walked towards the scene, where Clarisse, a pretty girl with black short hair and pale blue eyes, motioned for them to join her. Mila made the introductions and Clarisse turned to Kurapika, her eyes sparkling.

“Are you here only for the summer?” She asked with a strong accent.

“Maybe more,” replied Kurapika. “Leorio is my supervisor, it's up to him to decide when my training is over.”

“Oh, I hope he won’t make you work too hard!” 

“Kurapika is from one of the best university in the world, I’m pretty sure he can take it,” said Leorio with a shrug. 

“In Selonia, you know, people close their businesses in the evenings and on Sundays. And even sometimes for nap time, but Leorio never does such a thing. He works 24 hours non stop, and people in the village know that he is available even when he sleeps!”

“That’s not true, Mila.”

“That is completely true,” added Clarisse. “I’ve never seen that. So you better ask for some time off already, because nobody is as workaholic as Leorio.”

Leorio and Kurapika exchanged a glance in spite of themselves and Leorio smiled a little. Yeah, right. Nobody except Kurapika. 

“I’m used to working long hours as well, but I’ll try to slow down,” said Kurapika with a smile.

“Might be a doctor’s thing, then!”

Or a hunter’s thing, thought Leorio.

“Yes, it might,” said Kurapika with a perfectly staged laugh. “What are you two doing for a living?”

“I'm a notary,” said Mila. “That’s how I met Leorio two years ago. In sad circumstances, but which ended for the better. Isn't love the best ending of all? I think his grandmother had planned for us to meet.”

“Are you married, Kurapika?” Asked Clarisse, interrupting Mila. 

“No.” 

“Are you in love, then?”

The whole crowd then began to shout at the same time as the band made their entrance on the scene, saving Kurapika from the question. The music started with force and the crowd jumped and danced in one movement. Leorio let himself go a little and sometimes looked at Kurapika, amused to see this one in such a normal context.

Quickly, they were pushed around by people, and Kurapika, always keeping a relaxed face, had his body alert and placed himself closer to Leorio on the lookout. Leorio noticed it and without realizing it, moved away. He then had the idea to test Kurapika's speed and patience, and began to go through the crowd, jumping and taking part of the dancing movement. Each time, Kurapika stayed closed without any difficulty in moving in this dense crowd. Leorio got annoyed once more and shrugged.

“Do you like it?”

“What?”

“The band, Kurapika.”

“How would I know?”

“How would you- what the hell? Have you ever listened to music before?”

“Of course I’ve listened to music.”

“Let me guess. You had to listen to music when you had to know better the taste of a client? Go to mafia’s underground concerts? You-”

“I will ignore your sarcastic comments and remind you that I was once working with Senritsu. She made me listen to many types of music and she taught me a lot of things about it.”

“If you say so.”

Leorio tried to imagine Senritsu teaching Kurapika pop culture and found it even more unlikely. The concert went on without them speaking, and Leorio preferred it that way. The show was great and talking to Kurapika was not. Mila and her friend finally found them, hopping and dancing with enthusiasm.

“They are amazing!” Said Mila.

“Yes.”

“Are we going to the pub afterward? We could have a drink and-”

Leorio's phone vibrated in his pants pocket, and he quickly took it in his hands, under the watchful eyes of Kurapika who hadn't missed a move. Leorio read the received message, exchanged a brief glance with the blond, and the latter nodded knowingly.

“The pub? Guys?

“Sorry, Mila, we really must go,” said Leorio in a voice that wasn’t sorry at all. “Emergency.”

“What? But we just arrived and-”

But the two men were already far away in the crowd, making their way out of the festival.

“Where?” Asked Kurapika, as they were walking very fast in the streets.

“She texted that it would be at my practice.” 

They arrived at the door and Leorio unlocked it. In the entrance hall, there was silence, except a very strange rustling, a little further. He and Kurapika moved closer to the noise coming from one of the two consultation rooms, the one further back. When they opened the door, they discovered a bluish light on the ground, which formed a circle about 2 meters in diameter. It was, obviously, a kind of portal. It radiated and made a sort of hiss.

“How does it work?” Asked Kurapika.

“We just have to walk on it and activate our Nen.” 

“That simple?” 

“Yes. But before I need to grab some things. Can you take that case over there?”

Kurapika nodded and Leorio started to pick up various tools, syringes, medicine from his cupboards and put them in the small suitcase that Kurapika put in front of him. After a while, Leorio made the mental count, bit his lip, and nodded.

“Let’s go.”

He closed the briefcase, took it in one hand, and they walked to the circular light. By activating their Nen, they were teleported immediately, smoothly. It was an extraordinary Specialist Nen power, they thought at the same time. They found themselves in a dark room, the same bluish portal on the ground, and hardly had they appeared that Cheadle greeted them.

“Leorio, Kurapika, you’ve been fast. Thank you.” 

“Well, this is the fastest way to travel,” noticed Leorio. 

“We only used it for extreme top-secret cases, thanks to one of our A-Hunter, who I can’t reveal the name, as you know. The President is waiting in the other room, just follow me.”

“How is he?”

“He is asleep for now. We gave him some medication to soothe his pain. The swelling started again in one of his legs.” 

“Already? That can’t be good.” 

They arrived in front of a door highly protected, but Cheadle's Nen unlock it and let them through. The room was luxurious and Beyond was sleeping peacefully in a big bed. Leorio, without waiting, rushed to have a close look at the swelling. It was not yet severe, but his left leg still had doubled in size. Leorio began by analyzing the affected area and managed to quickly reduce the swelling thanks to the radiation from his Nen. When the leg returned to its normal size, he opened the case, took a jar and applied a cream to soothe the puffy skin.

“That should help for some hours, some days if we're lucky. I'm going to make every medical test possible. It might take a while,” says Leorio, looking through the case again and taking out a syringe and small glass jars.

One hour later, Leorio looked up, satisfied. Kurapika had not moved an inch, straight and alert. 

“I have everything I need,” said the doctor, in a firm voice. 

“Good. We will contact you in the event of an emergency.”

Cheadle led them back to the portal, nodded at them as a goodbye, with a serious air that concealed great concern. They activated their Nen and a second later they were back in Leorio's office.

“This will be a lot of work,” said Leorio without losing a second before unpacking carefully the medical case. “You can rest while I’m-”

“Just tell me what to do.” 

Leorio wanted to reply that he didn't know a single thing about medicine, but Kurapika looked at him with such a defiant look that Leorio nodded and rolled his eyes. What the hell.

“Fine. Take that microscope over there and prepare yourself for a very short week of sleep.”


	8. In Synch

The week was spent between the patients of Selonia to treat, to make some round trips through the portal to help Beyond, and the analysis of his medical tests. Kurapika took the role of assistant very seriously, bringing coffee and tea to the patients, then doing his best to help Leorio until the wee hours of the night. After yet another sleepless night, the sun rose in Leorio's office, still under his microscope. Next to him, Kurapika was trying to find correlations between the results, trying to finding something that wouldn't have noticed yet. It was almost always a complete silence between them. They only spoke to each other when absolutely necessary, to discuss hypotheses or tasks to be done. After a while, Leorio sighed with both fatigue and misunderstanding.

“Everything is perfect, like Cheadle said.” 

He was tired and annoyed. He hated when he couldn’t find the answer. Without any result, he couldn’t find a solution. Without a solution, he couldn’t help.

“It can’t be,” said Kurapika, frowning.

“It is clearly something else,” said Leorio, rubbing his eyes.

Kurapika looked at him, not sure what he meant. 

“I can repair all the muscles and the bones, and everything is alright for a while, explained Leorio, but I can feel that the core of his sickness is not something physical. Beyond said something about how he felt when the sickness appeared like he was tensed, and angrier-”

“Yes. Would it be a psychological cause then? Psychosomatic?”

“Not exactly. I don’t know. I think it’s emotional, yes. But more like something deeper and much, much darker. Something abstract, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there, or real. I can’t explain exactly, I felt this only once, with you, and-”

Leorio looked up, alarmed.

“I mean, not you, but-”

Kurapika dropped the papers on the desk and looked Leorio straight in the eye.

“You’re the one who saved my life, aren’t you?”

Leorio bit his lower lip, uncomfortable.

“We cannot talk about this. The rules, remember?” 

“It is important.” 

“It doesn’t matter now.”

“It does.”

“Kurapika-”

“Was it you?”

Leorio sighed. He could never escape this piercing and stubborn look.

“Yes.” 

“How did you do it?” asked Kurapika as if he was asking the steps of an operating procedure.

Leorio closed his eyes for a moment. He felt suddenly very heavy, very far away.

“I don’t know.”

And that was partly the truth. Kurapika scrutinized him and frowned.

“You’re hiding something.”

“Drop it, Kurapika. It wasn’t-”

“Just tell me.”

“I can’t, it was a long time ago and-”

“Damn it, Leorio! Anything could help us right now!” said Kurapika, standing up.

“Fine! Calm down!”

Leorio breathed once. 

“It wasn’t only me, okay? We did it together! I mean, our Nen, they did it.” 

“Together?”

Kurapika seemed to think, sat down gently.

“They created a new type of Nen. Senritsu explained me everything, but it was very complex and-”

“Qitsu. _In Unisson_. It’s very rare and-”

“What? How could you actually know something like that?”

“I actually read, Leorio.” 

“Good for you, Kurapika, you are so smart and everything-”

“And I once needed to kill the most powerful Hunter. I had to know everything about the most powerful faces of Nen. Qitsu is one of them.” 

“But you couldn’t do Qitsu alone.”

“Exactly. That was out of the question.”

“I just remembered that sweet part of your personality,” mumbled Leorio.

“What type of Qitsu our Nen created?” asked Kurapika, ignoring Leorio. “What happened?”

“Huh, yeah, I don’t really remember-”

“You’ve always been such a bad liar.”

Leorio sighed.   


“Senritsu said something about love,” said Leorio.

Kurapika looked at him, surprised.

“Don’t look at me like that! I was so fucking scared to lose you that night!”

Leorio cleared his throat, surprised himself by the high tone of his voice.

“It seemed that- well, my love traveled with my Nen,” he continued with a more neutral voice. “Senritsu explained to me that your love connected with mine and that our love could erase the hatred, the conditions and that crazy pledge you made on your heart.”

Kurapika looked at Leorio seriously, then turned away, looked outside the window for a while. 

“Whatever, okay? That was a long time ago and-” 

“I can’t believe you hide something like that from me,” interrupted Kurapika.

“You didn’t need to know.”

Kurapika stood up again, walking around the room.

“Are you upset now? What is going on?”

“I’m thinking.”

“Stop thinking all by yourself, you’re giving me a headache!”

“Qitsu can create different types of emotions and have different results depending on the Nen and the people who unite, but it does not always work.”

“Why?”

“Because the intentions and the feelings of the two people must be identical. They must understand each other perfectly, as the reflection of a mirror, you understand? So it's very, very rare that this happens. There are stories of people who tried to unite, two extremely powerful people for example, who wanted absolute power by uniting, but that rarely worked in these cases.”

Kurapika turned around and looked at Leorio.  


“Qitsu’s great strength is that it has no ego. You can't unite two Nens if it's for a selfish purpose.”

“It must be a pure intention.”

“Exactly.”

“Why are you thinking about all this?”

“Qitsu is stronger than you think, Leorio. In fact, once it is created, it doesn’t die.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“It doesn’t die. It’s still there. Powerfully there.” 

Leorio suddenly understood.

“We could use it again.”

“Yes.” 

“For the President.”

“Yes.”

“If we train we could make it appear! We could make it traveled to Beyond's body and erase the sickness and- Kurapika, you’re a genius!” 

“Maybe it won’t work, but it’s worth a try-”

“Of course! Let’s start!”

Leorio stood up with enthusiasm and then, having no idea where to start, sat back down.

“How should we train for something like this?”

“I’m not sure. We could try doing what you did last time.” 

“Well, for the record, you were dying last time. Not really a situation we can live several times and-”

“I don’t think one of us must be dying for Qitsu to work. It was just an extraordinary context to make it appear. But as it is created now, it must be different.”

“You know that I was kidding, right? Whatever. Just lay down on the check-up bed.” 

Kurapika did as he asked and looked at Leorio while the doctor started to scan his body with his Nen. Leorio could not feel anything different than the usual: the muscles, the bones, the skin.

“Is it working?” asked Kurapika.

“No. Huh, if you close your eyes maybe? Do you feel something?”

“Nothing in particular,” said Kurapika. 

“Oh, come on, my Nen has an amazing feel, every patient I had told me that it-” 

“It’s not working.”

Kurapika quickly got up and pushed Leorio away with one hand, his hair in front of his eyes. Leorio was surprised at the change of his voice tone. 

“Are you okay?”

Kurapika avoided his gaze.

“Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it’s not there anymore.” 

“What are you talking about? You said once it’s there, it’s forever there. We just have to find a way to connect with it.”

“That could take months, Leorio. Or years. We don’t have that much time. Beyond will die.” 

“We will find something. We must-”

Leorio suddenly had an idea.

“What about Emperor Time? I hate when you used it, but maybe for a minute-”

“I can’t use it anymore.” 

“What do you mean?”

“It doesn’t work. Since that night you saved me.”

“Oh.”

Kurapika leaned against the edge of the counter, reflective and silent.

“Are you telling me you are working as my bodyguard and you can’t even use your Nen? And am I supposed to feel safe?” 

“I can use my Nen, Leorio. I’m just not a Specialist anymore. But no one needs to know that, and I still know how to fight.” 

“Yeah, you must scare your opponents with only your reputation.”

“I still have my chains and they appear very real. That’s all I need.” 

“Well, let’s hope we won’t need more than a masquerade when someone will try to kill me.” 

“Are you calling my Nen a masquerade?”

“I’m just saying.” 

Kurapika was tempted to reply, but he didn't. He remembered the rules they made and he didn't want to cross any lines. They remained silent for a moment. Leorio looked at him after a while.

“I know exactly _who_ we need. I’ll call her.”

“Senritsu. Of course.”

Kurapika nodded. She always knew what to do in these kinds of things. A moment later, she appeared on the screen of Leorio's phone. Wherever she was, it was obviously the evening and she was getting prepared for a concert. Her face reflected surprise, then joy when she saw the two men.

“You two have something important on your mind.”

“You can also read our minds now?” asked Leorio with a laugh.

“You don't have to be clairvoyant to guess,” she replied with a soft laugh.

The sound of his voice immediately calmed them down.

“It’s good to see you, Senritsu,” said Leorio while Kurapika nodded with a smile.

“What’s going on? You two are working together now?”

Of course, she didn’t even have to ask these things. She felt it. They were not together for any other reason than that. Leorio then began to tell her the whole story, omitting details that could compromise Beyond’s security. Senritsu listened patiently, never interrupting him, as usual.

“That’s why we need to know how to use Qitsu again. Kurapika said that once it’s created, it’s still there.” 

“Kurapika is right. Qitsu will always live between you two.” 

“How do we reach it?” asked Kurapika. “We tried but nothing happened.”

“What did you do?”

“I scanned Kurapika’s body with my Nen, and we didn't feel anything,” said Leorio.

Senritsu stayed silent for a moment.

“When was the last time you saw each other?” she finally asked.

“We work together, Senritsu. We always see each other. If you want my opinion, that's really-” started Leorio.

“No, not like that. When was the last time you _really saw_ each other?”

“Senritsu, we really don’t have time for metaphors.”

She had a little laugh again. 

“Qitsu isn’t about physical connection or any casual connection. You won’t be able to connect with it unless you can connect with your true self.” 

“Our true self,” repeated Leorio. “Okay. Simple. And how exactly do we do it?”

“You don’t have much time, right? Start by listening. Listening to each other. You need to stay together, live together, talk to each other…”

“But we already do-”

Senritsu closed her eyes.

“Your hearts are not in synch. I know how strong and powerful they sing when they are. Qitsu was created by your heartbeats, knowing exactly and perfectly the music of the other.”

Kurapika and Leorio didn't know what to answer. Stunned. How were they supposed to listen to the music of their hearts? It was nonsense. They were doomed.

“Don’t look so desperate,” she said. “The good news is that your heart always knows what is best for you.”

“Can you translate it to us?”

“I’ve already had.” 

There was a voice behind Senritsu. She replied that she was ready.

“Ah. My concert is starting. I was happy to see you, my friends.”

“We still need you,” said Leorio.

“You don’t,” said the woman smiling softly. “But you can always call me.”

“Thanks, Senritsu. Break a leg for the concert,” added Leorio. 

“Thank you! Goodbye.”

She disappeared from the screen, leaving them in complete emptiness.

“Well. I thought she could help. I'm even more lost now,” said Leorio with a sigh. 

Kurapika remained silent, biting his lower lip.

“What do you think?” 

“Senritsu is one of the rare people I trust with my life. I think we must do as she said.”

“I trust her too. I just-”

The ring of the office's door rang. Many patients were already waiting in line to come in. Leorio looked at the clock on the wall. 

“Damn. Is it already morning?” he said while Kurapika was already opening the door to the patients. 

Listening to our _heartbeat's music, _whatever that means, will have to wait, he thought for himself.


	9. Nightmares

When the last patient left the office, Leorio and Kurapika, now used to a certain routine, put away the equipment and made sure everything was in order for the next day. Kurapika checked the time on his phone. His break started in fifteen minutes and he knew how Leorio hated it when he didn't take it. He hated engaging in a conversation about it himself because he knew all too well that it was a waste of time.

“I’ll head back to the hotel,” Kurapika said while walking out of the office.

“Wait.”

Kurapika turned around.

“About what Senritsu said.”

“Which part?”

Leorio put his hands in his pockets and looked at the ceiling which suddenly looked very interesting. 

“The one she said we had to listen to each other, talk to each other more and, huh, live together?”

“Ah. Yes.”

“We don’t have much time and I think we should try everything we can to make this Qitsu thing appear again.” 

Kurapika thought that it made sense.

“I will go grab my things, then.” 

He nodded while Kurapika went out. Leorio took his time to go back to his house. He went directly to the guest room where he had obviously forgotten the complete mess that reigned there. Damn it. As he rarely had guests, he used this room as a storage room. There were clothes on the bed and on the chair, and many, many of his medical books lying around. He started cleaning up, mentally remembering to reread important passages from one book or another. When he was still picking up books and clothes everywhere, the front door slammed.

“It’s not perfect, but I’ll put all the books in my room and-” he started, hugging a bunch of clothes in his arms.

“Are you _finally_ cleaning up?”

A girlish voice. A slightly dry voice, hardly concealing repressed emotions.

“Oh, Mila. Hey. What are you doing here?”

“I missed you.” 

Leorio turned around. Seeing her face, he automatically felt guilty. Her eyes were puffy. The girl came over to kiss him, and unconsciously Leorio looked away and her lips landed on his cheek. Mila buries her face in Leorio's shirt.

“Who were you talking to? Do you have a guest?”

“ Yes, well, you know. Kurapika. We have a very difficult case that we need to solve, so we decided that he would live here for a little while.” 

“That's good. I- Can we talk?” She asked quietly, which wasn’t normal for her.

“Right now?” said Leorio while putting the clothes in his own bedroom.

“Please. I-”

There was a knock on the front door. Leorio went to open, Mila following him. Kurapika came in with a black briefcase and, noticing Mila, he froze, afraid of disturbing. He suddenly regretted his very private hotel room, but he greeted her gently and she greeted him too with a small smile.

“I made some space in the guest room,” said Leorio. “Make yourself comfortable.”

“Thank you. Is it okay if I go directly to bed? I am drowned out,” he explained politely. 

“Sure, you deserve some rest,” said Leorio, strongly doubting that Kurapika was really exhausted.

“Okay, then. Goodnight. See you soon, Mila.” 

“Goodnight, Kurapika!”

Leorio and Mila let him pass and Kurapika went straight to his new bedroom, closing the door softly. Leorio turned to the girl.

“Let’s go outside,” he said. 

“We can talk here,” she replied. 

“I would prefer not.” 

“Because of Kurapika?”

“What do you mean?”

Why did he have to ask it like that?

“You are colleagues. Private conversations could be uncomfortable for him, no?”

“Ah. Yeah. Exactly. A walk on the beach?”

Mila nodded. They left the house and Leorio discreetly closed the door. 

*

The moon was full and high, and the breeze was soft. Leorio was walking since hours. Alone. He didn't know how he felt. Was he going to admit it? Indifference. What kind of bastard had he become? He felt nothing. His heart no longer hurt. His heart was frozen, cold. Was it better to feel nothing anymore, or to be hurt again? And why relationships always ended right here, on this beach? He felt suddenly so tired, and far away from his own body. 

_“You have no time for me. You never have time!”_

_“Mila, I have important work to do. It’s complicated right now.”_

_“I'm sick of your reasons.”_

_“I know.”_

_“I love you, Leorio.”_

The sea was eternally dancing. The words fell on him without reaching him. She knew. She always knew somehow. Leorio sighed and realized he was back in front of his house. What time was it? Late? Early? He went home. He crossed the kitchen and fell on his couch. He could hear the ocean's roar. He was almost jealous of it. He couldn't find the strength to howl with anger or pain. There was no pain anymore. 

_“And you don’t. I don’t know why your heart is closed like that, but I can never reach it. You never let me in. And I thought you would, one day. If I was patient. If I loved you enough.” _

_“You’re enough. You’re more than enough. I am sorry, Mila. I really am.” _

She had been crying. In silence. An apology was not a declaration of love. An apology sounded like a goodbye. And that was it, they both knew it was over. Leorio walked away before doing even more harm to her. 

He laid down on the couch and looked at the ceiling. What was his problem? Mila was perfect. Beautiful, smart, funny, wonderful. Everybody loved her. He thought he did. He liked her, that was true, but- love? He didn't even know what that meant anymore. He loved so much in the past. Crazy fucking love. The one that made everything special, and more luminous and alive, but was also painful and hurtful, and even tragic. He couldn't have this anymore. He learned from his mistakes. He had no place left in him, he felt nothing, he- Suddenly, Kurapika's voice began to scream, brutally awakening him from his torpor. Without thinking, Leorio runs to the guestroom, opened the door and sat on the bed. Kurapika was crying, eyes closed, clearly making a terrible nightmare.

“Kurapika! Wake up!” said Leorio holding him by the shoulder.

“No! Leave me alone!”

Kurapika gestured to push him away, his eyes still closed.

“It’s okay! You’re safe!”

Kurapika woke up with a start. His eyes were blood red. Drops of sweat beaded on his forehead and his skin was paler than usual. Two flaming pupils looked at Leorio in the dark, without understanding. After a few seconds, he finally recognized him and his face tried to regain composure, but his eyes remained red. Leorio quickly got his hand off Kurapika's shoulder.

“Leorio. I am sorry.” 

His breath was still short.

“You still have those nightmares?”

“It’s been a while,” said Kurapika still shaking but trying not to.

Was it the lack of sleep or the fact that he had just broken someone’s heart, but Leorio could no longer bear to see someone suffer in front of him, even Kurapika. Mostly Kurapika. 

“Move over.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not letting you shaking like that all night long all by yourself.” 

“I’m the one who’s protecting you.” 

“It’s your night off,” replied Leorio lying next to the other.

Kurapika did not have the strength to fight back.

“I hate the night.” 

“No bet.”

“This nightmare is the worst. I do it once in a while.”

“What is it?”

“I am running behind mom, dad and Pairo. They are running faster than me, they are escaping something and I don’t know what. We are running and I’m shouting their names, but they ignore me. We finally arrive over a cliff, and they can’t escape anymore, so they turn around and look at me and-”

Kurapika's body started to shake again.

“They don’t have faces anymore. Only skin. It’s-”

“Damn it, Kurapika. That’s horrible.”

The blond stayed silent. Leorio looked at him and cleared his throat.

“I’m going to tell you a beautiful story to change your mind.”

“Please don’t tell me I’m a prince with some slaves.”

“Gosh, Kurapika. How could you remember something like this?”

“I remember everything.” 

“We ditched that version and preferred the one with the panthers.”

“Still waiting for them.” 

“With all the money you make, you could buy anything.”

“I don’t need anything.” 

“Yeah, I know.” 

Kurapika's breathing seemed to calm down gently. His pupils came back to their usual color, but Leorio could only guess it, because the two looked strictly at the ceiling where the moon made halos of dancing bluish lights.

“How was your night?” Asked Kurapika. “Ah. Sorry. The rules.”

“It’s okay. We, huh, we broke up actually.”

The words came out of Leorio's mouth and the situation seemed to weigh on their bodies. Kurapika shivered once more, but he no longer knew why.

“I’m very sorry.”

“It’s okay,” the other repeated.

It’s okay. Is that all he could say? He didn't even know what was okay anymore. This conversation was clearly not okay. Nothing was okay about this night. Especially not being in the same bed as Kurapika. He had to leave this room. Right now. 

“That should have been a hard night for you. You should rest.” finally said Kurapika.

His neutral and professional voice was back. He clearly had the same thoughts. 

“People will be waiting for you tomorrow morning and you need to sleep.” 

“They ask for you now, you know. Don’t you go stealing my job now that you’re getting good at it!”

A small joke, hiding a huge relief. Leorio was out of the room before Kurapika had the chance to say anything back. 


	10. Air and Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
It was sincerely the most difficult chapter to write so far, that's why it took me quite a while to post it. But it's finally here and I hope you'll enjoy it   
xxx  
Rose

Waking up the next morning at dawn, Leorio felt like he had barely slept. He got up, and went straight to the kitchen to prepare a coffee. Kurapika's door was still closed. They wouldn't open the medical practice for another two hours anyway. The sun was barely rising, making the house glow. When his coffee was ready, Leorio took the hot cup in his hands and went out to the beach. He felt oddly calm. The sun caressed his face and the salty wind tickled his nostrils, waking him gently. He sat down directly on the beach, his bare feet in the sand. He sighed once, drinking the hot and delicious liquid.

The door behind him suddenly opened and closed, and Kurapika came to sit on the sand, keeping a good distance between the two. He just woke up or maybe he didn't sleep at all, his face never revealed such detail. The sea nourished their silence. Leorio was deep in thought.

“The waves are too strong in this part of the ocean, so when I was a kid, I used to play football on this beach every day instead. Right there.”

He pointed at the beach a little further away.

“Football?” Asked Kurapika.

“You must have seen it sometimes on television. They play only with their feet. It’s extremely popular around here.”

“Ah, yes. With that black and white ball?”

“Yes,” said Leorio. “I loved to play with Pietro. He was my best friend and I never felt the same when he died.”

“Do you miss him?”

“I'm used to live with his ghost now, if I can say so. But I-I still feel it's unfair. Though he gave me the courage to be where I am today, so, I'm also grateful.”

Kurapika looked at him for a second and looked back at the sea.

“I remember the first time you talked about him during the first part of the Hunter’s exam. I thought you must have been deeply hurt.”

“I was,” admitted Leorio. “We were all suffering, somehow.”

“Maybe that’s why we were doing this exam in the first place.”

“To prove something, you mean?”

“To heal something.”

Leorio nodded. He was right.

“You were stronger than you were letting it show,” said Kurapika.

“I’m not strong at all. You could kill me anytime.”

“I don’t mean that type of strength.”

Leorio said a very quiet _thank you._

“That’s weird,” Leorio finally said.

“What is?”

“It’s just- time flies. Last time we were talking here, we were breaking up.”

“You mean that you broke with me.”

“Just because you didn’t have the balls to do it yourself.”

Kurapika didn't reply anything, but he suddenly looked very serious.

“Hey, it’s whatever, I was just kidding! Don’t worry about it. It was forever ago.”

“It was not that long ago.” 

“Yeah, well. For me it was. It’s fine. All forgotten now.” 

Kurapika stayed silent for a moment. 

“I was a mess back then,” he said. “Actually, most of the time we spent together, I was a complete mess. You had the right to shake things off. I hated it, but it was the right thing to do.” 

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Kurapika, are you saying that I was right? And that you were wrong?”

“It’s not because you’re right that I’m automatically wrong, you know that?”

“Don’t be a smart ass.” 

“Fine. You were right. I was wrong. Satisfied?”

“Very.”

Kurapika scoffed. 

“You have not changed at all.”

“But you have. What happened to you? How did you end up working as a bodyguard again?”

“I only did what you told me to.”

“What? That’s the first time you ever did that.”

“That’s not true. I just don’t tell you.”

“You’re the most stubborn person I know, and you’re far too proud.” 

“And you’re so loud that I have no choice to hear what you say, even if I don’t want to.” 

Leorio laughed.

“Asshole.” 

Kurapika had a subtle smile. Why does it seem so easy? Leorio suddenly forgot about the rules they made. 

“You realized you loved being a bodyguard?”

“ I realized that I wanted to protect people. I just didn’t protect the right people before.” 

“But you said you didn’t know the client you were working for until you met them.” 

“I told Cheadle about my intentions. She understood. She chooses my clients carefully. I trust her.” 

“You seem to trust people more than before.” 

“It’s still hard sometimes, but I’m learning. I felt like I was coming from hell, and that I got used to living there, you know. Not anymore. I’m trying to respect Pairo’s wishes now.”

“Which were?”

Kurapika smiled softly now.

“He said that he would ask only for one thing when I’ll get back. Was it fun? That’s all.” 

“That’s such a great thing to ask,” replied Leorio, smiling too. “Well, was it?”

“Mostly when I was with you, Gon and Killua.” 

“We sure had good times.”

“It’s not over yet, isn’t it?” said Kurapika. 

Leorio looked at him, surprised. His diaphanous skin seemed to glow in the sun. Kurapika met his gaze.

“What?”

“Nothing. I never hear you talk about your life like there was a real future to it, that’s all.” 

Kurapika shrugged.

“What's this?”

“A real future? That’s an abstract question and it’s far too early in the morning-”

“No, this.”

Kurapika got up and went to dig up a plastic disc that was buried a little further in the sand. Leorio put his cup in the sand and went to see.

“You never play frisbee before?”

“Frisbee?”

“Okay, give it to me. It’s very fun. You have to throw it like this, see?”

Kurapika caught with one hand the frisbee thrown by Leorio.  Then he tried to imitate the latter's movement but threw the disc really too far behind Leorio.

“Good, but you actually want me to catch it.” 

“Ah. I’ll try again.” 

Kurapika went to get the frisbee and threw it again at Leorio. A strong gust of wind blew it aside, however, and the frisbee flew directly into the ocean. Leorio watched it getting lost in the huge waves.

“I’m going to get it back,” shouted Kurapika while running to the waters.

“Don’t! It’s just a frisbee, we don’t care, there’s plenty more-”

Kurapika ignored Leorio and dived into the ocean. 

“The waves are far too powerful today! Kurapika, don’t go!”

That was too late. Kurapika was swimming so fast that Leorio couldn't see him anymore. Worried, he scrutizined the horizon, waiting for a face to appear in the distance, but nothing appeared. Without thinking, Leorio ran and threw himself into the sea. He swam without any real direction because the current was too strong. He then saw Kurapika's hair, as the blond was catching the floating frisbee further away with difficulty as the waves were higher and stronger. Leorio tried to get closer.

“Kurapika!”

Kurapika's head disappeared under the water, and Leorio was starting to lose his breath. The waves were gathering volume, and the current brought him further. He began to lose some strength, and the rhythm of the waves grew faster and faster, no longer giving him a chance to breathe. He felt warm water rushing up his throat, and filling up his lungs. He tried to cough, but the water was all around him. He tried to swim back at the beach, but he didn't even have a clue where the sky was, neither the ocean depths.

Suddenly, he felt an arm pulling him hard. He saw the a beautiful ray of light under the water and golden hair dancing, and then nothing.

“Leorio! Wake up!” 

Kurapika had hoisted Leorio's body onto the beach, and started to take his pulse, and push strongly on his chest with his hands, but nothing happened. He did it relentlessly until Leorio finally began to cough and spat the water out of his lungs. Kurapika sighed in relief, and Leorio rested his head on the beach, coughing again, the sand tangling in his damp hair. He rose on his hands and looked at Kurapika angrily. He grabbed his shirt, which was still dripping with water.

“What the hell, Kurapika? I told you not to go!”

“You didn’t need to follow me! I was perfectly fine!” Replied the blond angrily.

“I couldn’t see you anymore, you could have died out there!”

“You’re the one who almost drowned so shut up!”

“I’d tell _you_ to shut up you reckless son of a b-”

Without thinking, Kurapika grabbed Leorio's collar with both hands, forcefully, and kissed him. Leorio grabbed Kurapika's face and returned his kiss fiercely. Their mouths, their tongues were begging for more. Their bodies knew each other, recognized each other. Leorio's skin tasted of ocean's water and sunny summer days, his mouth pressed passionately against his, and Kurapika's body responded to every caress, every breath. He began to undo his shirt.

“Wait,” said Leorio putting his hand on the other's to stop his gesture. 

Kurapika stopped and looked at him, suddenly worried.

“You're right. We shouldn't. I'm sorry I-”

Leorio grabbed Kurapika's face again and kissed him, and biting his lower lip, then he kissed the back of his neck, quietly moving up to his jaw, then he stood up without adding anything and walked towards the house.  Kurapika watched him go, then got up and followed him, his clothes and hair still wet. Once inside, Leorio grabbed him by the arms and pushed him against the wall. Kurapika sighed and breathed faster as Leorio kissed the back of his neck, and knelt to undo the transparent white shirt. He revealed Kurapika's beautiful, muscular torso, and kissed every part of his skin, releasing his hands, and gripping the inside of his thighs, purposely brushing his member. Leorio undid his belt and his pants, kissing the bone of his pelvis and Kurapika, sighing, unable to take it anymore, pushed Leorio, and laid on top of him. Kurapika undid his shirt, then took off his belt, and his pants, and as Leorio stood up to help remove his boxers, Kurapika grabbed his arms.

“Don’t move,” he ordered with a firm voice. 

Leorio looked at Kurapika, his eyes redder than ever,  undressing him. Then, he grabbed Leorio's hard member with his palm with the perfect tension. Leorio moaned and Kurapika, encouraged by the evident pleasure on the other's face, kissed, then sucked his member, back and forth constantly, sometimes harder, sometimes softer, leaving Leorio on the verge of orgasm. Suddenly, Leorio stood up and took Kurapika's face between his palms, leaning closer to him, and kissed him again with passion and burning desire.

“I’m not finished,” said Kurapika between two kisses.

“I don’t care. It’s my turn.”

Leorio, while kissing Kurapika harder, reached his hand down to his boxers and removed it with ease. He took Kurapika's hot and hard member in his warm hand, and caressed it while kissing his neck, holding his face in his other hand. Kurapika closed his eyes, panting, breathing harder and harder. Leorio grabbed his hips, and bent down to kiss his member, then to suck it. Kurapika collapsed onto his back, no longer having the strength to stand, and caressing Leorio's hair. Leorio didn't stop, following the other's breath, mingling in pace with it, until he felt Kurapika was on the edge of great pleasure. He then grabbed Kurapika by the hips and gently thrust a finger inside him. Kurapika moaned, arching his hips, asking for more. He was holding Leorio's wrists with a gasp as Leorio slowly penetrated him. The two of them felt a huge wave of relief and desire, and Leorio didn't move for a moment, savoring the sensation of deep pleasure and unison. He kissed Kurapika, and started to penetrate him deeper, grabbing his member at the same time, following the same movements as his pelvis. Soon they began to breathe more heavily, and Kurapika moaned, and the world no longer existed. The heat in their bodies formed a dense, aroused bubble, and finally, a back and forth movement caused Kurapika to explode with pleasure, and Leorio followed him, then collapsed onto his body, breathless, content. It took a moment to catch up their breath. 

Leorio, when the reality slowly came back to him, stood up without saying anything. He grabbed dry underwear , a shirt and a pair of pants from his bedroom, and began to dress up. Kurapika, rapidly stood up and did the same in his bedroom, then came back in the kitchen. Leorio was still getting dressed.

“Well, huh, how many people who worked with you fell for your bodyguard looks?” asked Leorio without looking at the other.

“I don’t normally sleep with coworkers, Leorio. It’s a first.”

“You could. I’m sure you meet loads of interesting people, you can have fun from time to time.”

“I don’t think I am the type to have unmeaningful _fun_.”

“Well, that’s a first too, then.”

“What do you mean?”

Leorio looked at him with a smile. 

“Don’t tell me it meant something to you,” he said with a detached voice. 

Kurapika didn't reply, but his eyes were speaking for him. Leorio avoided his glare. 

“We clearly just needed to let some steam off. It’s been a stressful week,” he added. 

Kurapika's eyes, still red as the sun, become even redder for a second. 

“I see.”

Kurapika turned his back at him and started to make some tea. 

“Are you upset?” Asked Leorio.

“No. I respect how you feel.”

Leorio nodded but felt a wave of strange anger rising in his body. Kurapika seemed perfectly calm. 

“I have a life, Kurapika, you cannot expect me to throw everything because- because you are here. Because, somehow, you came back.”

“I’ll never ask such a thing.”

“Then, what?”

“Nothing.”

They exchanged one gaze, but Kurapika went back to his tea preparation. 

“Your eyes are still red and you think I’ll believe that everything is fine?”

“You’ve been clear. I understand your point of view.”

“Good.”

“But-” 

“But?”

“I would have come back somehow, you know. It was sooner than I thought, that’s all,” he said.

“So what?” 

“I would have come back,” he repeated. “To you.” 

“When?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know how long it would have taken, but-”

“Wow. Okay. Stop right here.” 

Leorio breathed once and Kurapika looked at him, concerned.

“For how long? More than two years later? Maybe more? Ten years later? This is insane. Who the fuck do you think I am, Kurapika? Your servant waiting for his master to return?”

“Years are nothing for me. And of course not I would never think such a thing. It was just not the right time-”

“The right time for who? For you, Kurapika. Always for you!”

“It’s just that we obviously were, we still are-”

“Don’t. Kurapika, don’t! There is no _we_. _We_ tried enough.” 

“It is not a matter of trying!”

“Yes, it is! We tried, we failed, we need to let it go. I did. You need to do it too.” 

Kurapika bit his lower lip, trying to stay calm. 

“Fine. I understand.” 

“I’m not the one for you.”

“Because you got to choose something like that?”

“I just know. You were not happy. I couldn’t make you happy!”

“No one could make me happy, Leorio. I was the one who needed to find my own happiness. That’s nobody else’s job. I just wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t be a burden for you anymore when I would be with you and-”

Leorio exhaled loudly, his stomach aching.

“You need to stop talking about that! You cannot understand. You never did!”

“Explain me, then!”

They were both shouting now.

“Just let it go, for Christ’s sake! And it’s far too personal, we cannot have this conversation!”

“You’re using this argument only when it suits you!”

“Damn it, Kurapika! You want the truth? Fine!” 

Leorio looked at him straight in the eyes. 

“It was always about yourself! It’s always been about yourself! I am not falling for this again!”

“What are you talking about?”

“You are a selfish, self-centered little brat, and that will never change! You’ve never been there for me, ever. You never asked how I feel, and what I love, and you don’t care about knowing more about me. All you care about is you, your job and the attention and the reward you could get! And you would have come back only when it suits you! You don’t care about what I feel! What I think!” 

Kurapika didn't avoid his glare. 

“That is not true.”

“Yes, it is. You never called me. You never reached for me. Ever. You would have never-”

Leorio stopped himself as he felt something inside him that hurt. Very much. 

“What? I would have never what?”

“You lied. You would have never come back. If it wasn’t for this job. We would have never seen each other again-”

Leorio's voice broke and his throat was tightened. Kurapika didn't move, his anger melted away. 

“Leorio, I-”

Kurapika walked closer to him and put a hand on his forearm, but Leorio pushed it away violently.

“I am so over you, Kurapika! I’m over us!”

“Leorio, you don't-”

“No, _you don’t_ get it! We are only working together now, but when this job will be done, I don’t want to see you anymore, ever again!”

Kurapika watched Leorio leave for the door.

“I will work alone today. You can take the day off.”

Leorio stormed out of the house. 


End file.
